NOASAURUS
a carnivorous noasaurid ceratosaurian dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Argentina.
Pronunciation: NOH-ah-SOR-us
Meaning: Northwestern Argentina lizard
Author/s: Bonaparte and Powell (
1980)
Synonyms: None known
First Discovery: Salta, Argentina
Discovery Chart Position: #280
Noasaurus leali
(Leal's Northwestern Argentina lizard)Etymology
Noasaurus is derived from an abbreviation of "noroeste Argentina" (a Spanish term meaning "North Western Argentina", the region including Salta Province where its remains were found), and the Greek "sauros" (lizard). The
species epithet,
leali (LEE-uh-lye), honors Don Fidel Leal, owner of the property on which the fossils were found. Coincidently, one of the technicians from the Paleontology Section of the Instituto Miguel Lillo who cleaned and prepared the remains is namesake J. C. Leal.
Discovery
The remains of
Noasaurus were discovered in the Lecho Formation at El Brete, Salta Province, Northwest Argentina, by a team led by José Bonaparte between 1975 and 1977.
The
holotype (PVL 4061) consists of a skull and vertebrae.
Estimations
Timeline:
Era: Mesozoic
Epoch: Late Cretaceous
Stage: Maastrichtian
Age range: 71-66 mya
Stats:
Est. max. length: 2.4 meters
Est. max. hip height: 0.6 meters
Est. max. weight: 15 Kg
Diet: Carnivore
References
• Bonaparte JF, Salfitty JA, Bossi G and Powell JE (1977) "Hallazgos de dinosaurios y aves cretácicas en la Formación Lecho de El Brete (Salta), próximo al límite con Tucumán".
Acta Geológica Lilloana, 14: 19-28
• Bonaparte JF and Powell JE (1980) "A continental assemblage of tetrapods from the Upper Cretaceous beds of El Brete, northwestern Argentina (Sauropoda, Coelurosauria, Carnosauria, Aves)".
Mémoires de la Société Géologique de France, Nouvelle Série, 139: 19-28
• Paul GS (1988) "
Predatory Dinosaurs of the World". Page 285-286.
• Agnolin FL, Apesteguia S and Chiarelli P (2004) "The end of a myth: The mysterious ungual claw of
Noasaurus leali".
Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 24(3): 301A-302A
• Agnolin FL and Chiarelli P (2010) "The position of the claws in Noasauridae (Dinosauria: Abelisauroidea) and its implications for abelisauroid manus evolution".
Paläontologische Zeitschrift, 84(2): 293–300. DOI: 10.1007/s12542-009-0044-2
• Paul GS (2010) "
The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs". Page 82.
• Carrano MT, Loewen MA and Sertic JJW (2011) "
New materials of Masiakasaurus knopfleri Sampson, Carrano, and Forster, 2001, and implications for the morphology of the Noasauridae (Theropoda: Ceratosauria)."
Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology, 95(95): 53pp. DOI: 10.5479/si.00810266.95.1
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To cite this page:
Atkinson, L.
"
NOASAURUS :: from DinoChecker's dinosaur archive".
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http://www.dinochecker.com/dinosaurs/NOASAURUS›. Web access: 06th Mar 2026.
