Pronunciation: TRIH-nee-SOR-uh
Meaning: Trini's lizard
Author/s: Coria et al. (2013)
Synonyms: None known
First Discovery: James Ross Island, Antarctica
Discovery Chart Position: #837
Trinisaura santamartaensis
We remember when it used to snow in January. Bigger, older kids would pelt us in the face with snowballs, and we’d retaliate by pelting smaller, younger kids in return. We also remember being warned not to eat yellow snow, but at least one of us didn't listen.
We're both sad and glad that it doesn't snow much in January anymore, at least not in England. But January 2013 forced us to think of snow again—not just because it snowed heavily for the first time in years, but because the first-named dinosaur of that year came from Antarctica, specifically from the Snow Hill Island Formation near Santa Marta Cove.
Trinisaura sports a combination of features also found in the Late Cretaceous Patagonian Gasparinisaura, Anabisetia and Talenkahuen, and was the first ornithopod found in the Snow Hill Island Formation, the second ornithischian dinosaur from Antarctica and, in fact, only the fourth dinosaur of any ilk known from this continent, until Morrosaurus was eventually described in 2016. The ankylosaur Antarctopelta oliveroi is the first known Antarctic ornithischian and should've been the first-named Antarctic dinosaur, but it took so long to excavate and describe that Hammer's Cryolophosaurus snook in and stole the glory, and it was actually discovered five years later!
Trinisaura sports a combination of features also found in the Late Cretaceous Patagonian Gasparinisaura, Anabisetia and Talenkahuen, and was the first ornithopod found in the Snow Hill Island Formation, the second ornithischian dinosaur from Antarctica and, in fact, only the fourth dinosaur of any ilk known from this continent, until Morrosaurus was eventually described in 2016. The ankylosaur Antarctopelta oliveroi is the first known Antarctic ornithischian and should've been the first-named Antarctic dinosaur, but it took so long to excavate and describe that Hammer's Cryolophosaurus snook in and stole the glory, and it was actually discovered five years later!
(Trini's Lizard from Santa Marta Cove)Etymology
Trinisaura is derived from "Trini" (for Dr. Trinidad "Trini" Diaz, pioneer of geologic studies on the Antarctic Peninsula) and the Greek "saura" (feminine form of "sauros", meaning "lizard").The species epithet, santamartaensis, refers to its discovery near Santa Marta Cove.
Discovery
The remains of Trinisaura were discovered in the Snow Hill Island Formation (Marambio Group) at Santa Marta Cove, James Ross Island, Antarctica, by Rodolfo Coria and Juan Jose Moly, duing an Antarctic summer campaign supported by the Instituto Antártico Argentino, in 2008.The holotype (MLP-III-1-1) is a partial, skulless, skeleton, which includes one partial back vertebra, three partial hip vertebrae, seven tail vertebrae, two partial ribs, a partial right shoulder girdle, partial right humerus, a partial hip (both ilia, right pubis, right ischium), a right thigh, partial right shin, two hand bones, a partial foot bone, three toes bones, and some indeterminate fragments.
