Alamosaurus
Alamosaurus (/ˌæləmoʊˈsɔːrəs/; meaning "Ojo Alamo lizard") is a genus of opisthocoelicaudiine titanosaurian sauropod dinosaurs containing a single known species, Alamosaurus sanjuanensis, from the Maastrichtian age of the Late Cretaceous period in what is now southwestern North America. Isolated vertebrae and limb bones indicate that it reached sizes comparable to Argentinosaurus and Puertasaurus, which would make it the absolute largest dinosaur known from North America. Its fossils have been recovered from a variety of rock formations spanning the Maastrichtian age. Specimens of a juvenile Alamosaurus sanjuanensis have been recovered from only a few meters below the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary in Texas, making it among the last surviving non-avian dinosaur species. Alamosaurus is the only known sauropod to have inhabited North America after their nearly 30-million year absence from the North American fossil record and probably represents an immigrant from South America.
Alamosaurus Temporal range: Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian), | |
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Restored skeletons of Alamosaurus and Tyrannosaurus at Perot Museum | |
Life reconstruction of Alamosaurus sanjuanensis | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Clade: | Dinosauria |
Clade: | Saurischia |
Clade: | †Sauropodomorpha |
Clade: | †Sauropoda |
Clade: | †Macronaria |
Clade: | †Titanosauria |
Family: | †Saltasauridae |
Subfamily: | †Opisthocoelicaudiinae |
Genus: | †Alamosaurus Gilmore, 1922 |
Type species | |
†Alamosaurus sanjuanensis Gilmore, 1922 |