Pronunciation: LOO-sih-TAY-no-SOR-us
Meaning: Portuguese lizard
Author/s: Lapparent and Zbyszewski (1957)
Synonyms: None known
First Discovery: São Pedro de Muel, Portugal
Discovery Chart Position: #202
Lusitanosaurus liassicus
No one knows exactly where Lusitanosaurus was actually unearthed, but we do know it was rediscovered in a limestone block at the University of Lisbon in 1957, adorned with a label that read "Liassic" and "Scelidosaurus" but not much else.
Lapparent and Zbyszewski thought its only remains — a partial upper jaw and eight teeth that represent the only Lower Jurassic, and thus oldest, dinosaur fossils known from Portugal,
if they're dated correctly — belonged to a stegosaur but one "much different to Stegosaurus". And they were right, and possibly wrong, or at least a little presumptuous.
It is much different to Stegosaurus because it isn't Stegosaurus, nor is it complete enough to confirm as a member of the Stegosaurus-anchored family, Stegosauria. And despite the label, it isn't particularly Scelidosaurus-like either. Whatever it is, the enigmatic Lusitanosaurus has notably narrow and smooth-faced teeth unlike any other dinosaur and appears to belong within Thyreophora: a group of herbivorous dinosaurs affectionately known as "armour bearers", but outside of Stegosauria (the plated branch) and Ankylosauria (the fused branch). Unfortunately, the only known specimen was destroyed in a fire at Lisbon's Museu Nacional de História Natural e da Ciência in 1978, making reanalysis impossible.
It is much different to Stegosaurus because it isn't Stegosaurus, nor is it complete enough to confirm as a member of the Stegosaurus-anchored family, Stegosauria. And despite the label, it isn't particularly Scelidosaurus-like either. Whatever it is, the enigmatic Lusitanosaurus has notably narrow and smooth-faced teeth unlike any other dinosaur and appears to belong within Thyreophora: a group of herbivorous dinosaurs affectionately known as "armour bearers", but outside of Stegosauria (the plated branch) and Ankylosauria (the fused branch). Unfortunately, the only known specimen was destroyed in a fire at Lisbon's Museu Nacional de História Natural e da Ciência in 1978, making reanalysis impossible.
(Portuguese lizard from the Jurassic)Etymology
Lusitanosaurus is derived from "Lusitania" (for ancient Lusitania, a Roman province that included most of what is now Portugal and part of Spain) and the Greek "sauros" (lizard).
The species epithet, liasicus, refers to "the Lias" which is synonymous with "the Early Jurassic period" in older literature.
Discovery
Being exceptionally generous, Lusitanosaurus was poorly documented, so the date and place of its discovery are a little hazy. Analysis of the fossil matrix suggests it was discovered near São Pedro de Muel in strata from the Sinemurian period of the "Liassic" (Early Jurassic), most likely the Coimbra Formation,
but this is far from certain.
The holotype (Ref.?) is a partial upper jaw, 10.5 cm long and 4.5 cm tall.
