LIGABUESAURUS
a plant-eating titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of Argentina.
Pronunciation: LEE-gah-boo-SOR-us
Meaning: Ligabue's Lizard
Author/s: Bonaparte
et al. (
2006)
Synonyms: None known
First Discovery: Neuquén, Argentina
Acta Ordinal: #608
Ligabuesaurus leanzai
(Leanza and Ligabue's Lizard)Etymology
Ligabuesaurus is derived from "Ligabue" (in honour of Italian doctor Giancario Ligabue) and the Greek "sauros" (lizard). This was the third of three dinosaurs named by José Bonaparte in Ligabue's honour, behind
Ligabueino andesi (1996) and
Agustinia ligabuei (1999). The
species epithet,
leanzai, is dedicated to geologist Dr. Héctor A. Leanza, who was the first to discover fossils at Picún Leufu, while working on a geologic map of the area.
Discovery
The remains of
Ligabuesaurus were discovered in the Cullín Grande Member of the Lohan Cura Formation at Cerro de los Leones, 10 km to the north-west of Picún Leufu, Neuquén, Argentina, by Héctor A. Leanza.
The
holotype (MCF-PHV-233), found in Quarry 4, is a partial skeleton.
In 2022, Bellardini
et al. bolstered the holotype after further preparation of more fossils that Bonaparte, González Riga and Apesteguía didn't list originally, and described a second specimen (MCF-PVPH-261) from the same quarry. At the same time, a third specimen, from the same locality but at Quarry 3 (MCF-PVPH-228 and MCF-PVPH-908), and a tooth (MCF-PVPH-744), found as float 200 metres west of Quarry 4, were referred to
Ligabuesaurus.
Remains of chelid turtles, theropod teeth, and isolated fragments of birds and crocodile bones have been collected from the site.
Preparators
Initial preparation by Agustín Martinelli, Daniel Hernández and Mr. Ricardo.
Further preparation by ?
Estimations
Timeline:
Era: Mesozoic
Epoch: Early Cretaceous
Stage: Aptian-Albian
Age range: 112-109 mya
Stats:
Est. max. length: 18 meters
Est. max. hip height: 4 meters
Est. max. weight: 20 tons
Diet: Herbivore
References
• Bonaparte JF, González Riga BJ and Apesteguía S (2006) "
Ligabuesaurus leanzai gen. et sp. nov. (Dinosauria, Sauropoda), a new titanosaur from the Lohan Cura Formation (Aptian, Lower Cretaceous) of Neuquén, Patagonia, Argentina".
Cretaceous Research, 27(3): 364-376. DOI: 10.1016/j.cretres.2005.07.004.
• D'Emic MD (2012) "Revision of the sauropod dinosaurs of the Lower Cretaceous Trinity Group, southern USA, with the description of a new genus".
Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 11(6). DOI: 10.1080/14772019.2012.667446.
• Molina-Pérez R and Larramendi A (2020) "
Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: The Sauropods" [aka Dinosaur Facts and Figures: The Sauropods and Other Sauropodomorphs].
• Bellardini F, Coria RA, Pino DA, Windholz GJ, Baiano MA and Martinelli AG (2022) "Osteology and phylogenetic relationships of
Ligabuesaurus leanzai (Dinosauria: Sauropoda) from the Early Cretaceous of the Neuquén Basin, Patagonia, Argentina".
Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 196(4): 1333-1393. DOI: 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlac003.
• Paul GS (2024) "
The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs: Third Edition".
Time stands still for no man, and research is ongoing. If you spot an error, or want to expand, edit or add a dinosaur, please use
this form. Go
here to contribute to our FAQ.
All dinos are GM free, and no herbivores were eaten during site construction!
To cite this page:
Atkinson, L.
"
LIGABUESAURUS :: from DinoChecker's dinosaur archive".
‹
http://www.dinochecker.com/dinosaurs/LIGABUESAURUS›. Web access: 13th May 2026.
