VITOSAURA
a carnivorous abelisaurid theropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Argentina.
Pronunciation: VEE-toe-SOR-uh
Meaning: Vito's lizardess
Author/s: Jiménez Velandia
et al. (
2025)
Synonyms: None known
First Discovery: La Rioja Province, Argentina
Discovery Chart Position: #1180
Vitosaura colozacani
Vito's Lizardess of ColozacánEtymology
Vitosaura is derived from "vito" (for the 19th-century soldier Victoria "Doña Vito" Romero, born in the Los Llanos region near the
Vitosaura type locality) and the Greek "saura" (feminine form of "lizard").
The
species epithet,
colozacani, refers to the Colozacán Valley, where the holotype was found.
Zoobank registry:
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:97DB3D77-317F-494B-A0D2-6BF4C22F7A1B.
Discovery
The remains of
Vitosaura were found in the Los Llanos Formation, near Tama village in the Colozacán Valley, La Rioja Province, Argentina, in 2009 and 2010.
The
holotype (CRILAR-Pv 506) is a partial first back (dorsal) vertebra, a complete second back vertebra, part of a block of fused hip vertebrae (sacrum), a partial left pelvis (ilium, pubis, and ischium), and other unidentified fragments
Estimations
Timeline:
Era: Mesozoic
Epoch: Late Cretaceous
Stage: Campanian
Age range: 84-70 mya
Stats:
Est. max. length: ?
Est. max. hip height: ?
Est. max. weight: ?
Diet: Carnivore
References
• Fiorelli LE, Leardi JM, Hechenleitner EM, Pol D, Basilici G and Grellet-Tinner G (2016) "A new Late Cretaceous crocodyliform from the western margin of Gondwana (La Rioja province, Argentina)".
Cretaceous Research, 60: 194–209. DOI: 10.1016/j.cretres.2015.12.003. [Page 195)
• Jiménez-Velandía H, Ezcurra MD, Hechenleitner ME, Martinelli AG, Basilici G and Fiorelli LE (2023) "A Late Cretaceous
abelisaurid from La Rioja province, NW Argentina".
XXXVI Jornadas Argentinas de Paleontología de Vertebrados, Abstract (pp. 56). La Rioja, Argentina.
• Jiménez Velandia H, Ezcurra MD, Hechenleitner EM, Basilici G, Martinelli AG and Fiorelli LE (2025) "A new Late Cretaceous abelisaurid species from La Rioja Province, northwestern Argentina".
Ameghiniana, 65(1): 1-23.
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To cite this page:
Atkinson, L.
"
VITOSAURA :: from DinoChecker's dinosaur archive".
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http://www.dinochecker.com/dinosaurs/VITOSAURA›. Web access: 06th Mar 2026.
