Lirainosaurus

Lirainosaurus was a small, slender titanosaur that roamed the island ecosystems of northern Spain during the Late Cretaceous epoch, between 73 and 70 million years ago. Named from fossils found at the Laño quarry in the Basque Country, it stood around one metre tall at the hips and reached up to six metres in total length, representing an island dwarf adapted to finite European habitats. Like several other titanosaur species of its era, Lirainosaurus possessed bony osteoderm plates embedded within its skin, which may have offered defensive protection against local predatory theropods or served as mineral reserves. Its slender limb bones and specialised skull fragments indicate a gentle herbivorous diet browsing low-growing foliage. Lirainosaurus is recognised as an important reference animal for understanding how sauropod lineages diversified and miniaturised across the Late Cretaceous European archipelago.

Osteoderms recovered alongside its bones demonstrate it carried protective bony armour in its hide.

Where and when

Lirainosaurus lived in the Late Cretaceous, from 73 to 70 million years ago (Campanian-Maastrichtian age). Its remains come from Spain, in the Vitoria Formation.

The numbers

Length 5 m (estimates run from 4 to 6 m). Mass about 1.9 t. Hip height about 1.2 m. That is 2.9 human-lengths, or 0.45 of a double-decker bus. These are estimates from partial skeleton; fields marked estimated by the site are length, mass, hip height.

Compare Lirainosaurus with a bus Place on the timeline