Ampelosaurus

Ampelosaurus was a medium-sized titanosaur sauropod discovered in the Upper Cretaceous river sediments of southern France and neighbouring Spain. Living around 70 million years ago, it reached lengths of up to sixteen metres, which made it notably larger than most contemporary European dwarf sauropods like Magyarosaurus. The dinosaur is especially famous for its well-preserved dermal armour, consisting of diverse bony plates, rounded scutes, and prominent spine-like osteoderms up to thirty centimetres tall set along its back. Because its fossils were originally excavated near the historic vineyards of the Aude Valley, palaeontologists dubbed it the vine lizard. Ampelosaurus possessed a fairly robust skeleton and a moderately elongated neck, which it used to browse a varied range of Mesozoic vegetation. Numerous associated bones make it one of the most thoroughly documented sauropods from Late Cretaceous Europe.

It was discovered near the Blanquette de Limoux vineyards and had osteoderms up to 30 cm long.

Where and when

Ampelosaurus lived in the Late Cretaceous, from 72.1 to 66 million years ago (Maastrichtian age). Its remains come from France and Spain, in the Marnes Rouges Inférieures Formation.

The numbers

Length 14 m (estimates run from 12 to 16 m). Mass about 11 t. Hip height about 3 m. That is 8.2 human-lengths, or 1.25 of a double-decker bus. These are estimates from partial skeleton; fields marked estimated by the site are length, mass, hip height.

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