LEAELLYNASAURA
a tiny plant-eating ornithopod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of Australia.
Pronunciation: lee-EL-in-a-SOR-a
Meaning: Leaellyn's lizard
Author/s: Rich and Vickers-Rich (
1989)
Synonyms: None known
First Discovery: Victoria, Australia
Discovery Chart Position: #342
Leaellynasaura amicagraphica
(Leaellyn's lizard)Etymology
Leaellynasaura is derived from "Leaellyn" (for Leaellyn Rich, daughter of the authors) and the Greek "saura" (feminine form of "sauros" which means "lizard"). Leaellyn once asked for her own dinosaur and got it in 1989!
The
species epithet,
amicagraphica, literally translates as "friend painting", from the Latin "amica" (friend), for the friends of the Museum of Victoria and "graphica" (painting), for the National Geo
graphic Society and their support of Australian paleontology.
Discovery
The remains of
Leaellynasaura were discovered in the Eumeralla Formation at Dinosaur Cove, Australia, by Tom Rich and Patricia Vickers-Rich in 1989.
The
holotype (NMV P185991) is a partial skull.
Estimations
Timeline:
Era: Mesozoic
Epoch: Early Cretaceous
Stage: Aptian-Albian
Age range: 118-110 mya
Stats:
Est. max. length: 1 meters
Est. max. hip height: 0.3 meters
Est. max. weight: 4 Kg
Diet: Herbivore
Leaellynasaura
amicagraphica
References
• Rich TA and Vickers Rich P (1989) "Polar dinosaurs and biotas of the Early Cretaceous of southeastern Australia".
National Geographic Research, 5(1): 15-53.
• Rich TA and Vickers-Rich P (2000)
"Dinosaurs of Darkness: In Search of the Lost Polar World".
• Fastovsky DE, Weishampel DB and Sibbick J (2005) "
The Evolution and Extinction of the Dinosaurs".
• Herne M (2009) "Postcranial osteology of
Leaellynasaura amicagraphica (Dinosauria; Ornithischia) from the Early Cretaceous of southeastern Australia".
Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 29(3): 33A.
• Agnolin FL, Ezcurra MD, Pais DF and Salisbury SW (2010) "
A reappraisal of the Cretaceous non-avian dinosaur faunas from Australia and New Zealand: evidence for their Gondwanan affinities".
Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, 8(2): 257-300.
DOI: 10.1080/14772011003594870.
• Rich TA, Galton P and Vickers Rich P (2010) "The holotype individual of the ornithopod dinosaur
Leaellynasaura amicagraphica Rich & Rich, 1989 (late Early Cretaceous, Victoria, Australia)".
Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology, 34(3): 385-396. DOI: 10.1080/03115518.2010.489404.
• Woodward HN, Rich TA, Chinsamy A and Vickers-Rich P (2011) "Growth Dynamics of Australia's Polar Dinosaurs".
PLoS One, 6(8): e23339. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0023339.
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To cite this page:
Atkinson, L.
"
LEAELLYNASAURA :: from DinoChecker's dinosaur archive".
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http://www.dinochecker.com/dinosaurs/LEAELLYNASAURA›. Web access: 06th Mar 2026.
