Pronunciation: ZAP-a-la-SOR-us
Meaning: Zapala (city) lizard
Author/s: Salgado et al. (2006)
Synonyms: None known
First Discovery: Neuquén, Argentina
Discovery Chart Position: #600
Zapalasaurus bonapartei
Until 2006, most sauropods known from Argentina's Neuquén basin were titanosaurs, almost all of which came from the Late Cretaceous. Diplodocoids, from the Early Cretaceous twilight of the same area, were represented mostly by the weird box-jawed critters known as rebbachisaurids.
For a short period of time, those two families of lumbering plant munchers (the diplodocoids and titanosaurs) coexisted. But by the early-Late Cretaceous, the former, with their small, narrow-crowned teeth, were extinct, and the latter were ruling the roost, perhaps because they were better equipped to deal with the monumental "Middle" Cretaceous changes in native plant life, seen the world over.
Zapalasaurus fought for the honour of diplodocoids, proving that they were not only the dominant Neuquén mega-herbivores in the titanosaur-free Piedra Parada Member of the La Amarga Formation during the Early-to-Middle Cretaceous but also that they were more diverse than previously thought. The ecological disturbance that led to their demise must have reversed to some degree, at least in Late Cretaceous Argentina, which created a niche for Inawentu — a titanosaur described as a "rebbachisaurid mimic" — to exploit.
For a short period of time, those two families of lumbering plant munchers (the diplodocoids and titanosaurs) coexisted. But by the early-Late Cretaceous, the former, with their small, narrow-crowned teeth, were extinct, and the latter were ruling the roost, perhaps because they were better equipped to deal with the monumental "Middle" Cretaceous changes in native plant life, seen the world over.
Zapalasaurus fought for the honour of diplodocoids, proving that they were not only the dominant Neuquén mega-herbivores in the titanosaur-free Piedra Parada Member of the La Amarga Formation during the Early-to-Middle Cretaceous but also that they were more diverse than previously thought. The ecological disturbance that led to their demise must have reversed to some degree, at least in Late Cretaceous Argentina, which created a niche for Inawentu — a titanosaur described as a "rebbachisaurid mimic" — to exploit.
(Bonaparte's Zapala Lizard)Etymology
Zapalasaurus is a derived from "Zapala" (a city in Neuquén Province, some 80 km to the north of the fossil's discovery site) and the Greek "sauros" (lizard). The species epithet, bonapartei, honors holotype collector Dr. Jose Bonaparte "in recognition of his professional career, and to his important work in understanding Mesozoic vertebrates".
Discovery
The first remains of Zapalasaurus were discovered in the Piedro Parada Member of the La Amarga Formation, Puesto Morales, La Picaza, Neuquén Province, Argentina, by a joint commission of the Museo Argentina de Ciencias Naturales "Bernardino Rivadavia," of Buenos Aires and the Museo "Prof. Dr. Juan A. Olsacher" of Zapala, Neuquén, in 1995-1996. The holotype (Pv-6127-MOZ) is a neck (cervical) vertebra, 17 tail (caudal) vertebrae, a partial pelvis (a bit of the sacrum, the left ischium, a left pubis, a fragment of an ilium), an incomplete left thigh (femur) and a complete left shin (tibia). More material from the same specimen was discovered in 2004.
