Dinosaurs / Jurassic / Lourinhasaurus
Lourinhasaurus
Jurassic loo-reen-yah-SAWR-us, “Lourinhã lizard”
Lourinhasaurus was a medium-sized sauropod dinosaur that roamed what is now Portugal during the Late Jurassic period, roughly 150 million years ago. It reached an estimated length of seventeen metres and had a robust, stocky build typical of macronarian sauropods. Like its North American cousin Camarasaur, it possessed sturdy pillar-like limbs and spatulate teeth designed for chewing tough vegetation such as conifers and cycads. First discovered in 1949 near Alenquer, its fossils were originally thought to belong to Apatosaurus. Detailed anatomical restudy in the late 1990s revealed that its skeleton bore clear characteristics of a distinct lineage related to Camarasaurus. Its presence underscores the striking similarities between the Late Jurassic dinosaur faunas of Europe and North America.
Originally classified as an Apatosaurus species, it was later identified as a distinct European camarasaurid sauropod.
Where and when
Lourinhasaurus lived in the Late Jurassic, from 152.1 to 145 million years ago (Kimmeridgian-Tithonian age). Its remains come from Portugal, in the Lourinhã Formation.
The numbers
Length 17 m (estimates run from 16 to 18 m). Mass about 14 t. Hip height about 4 m. That is 10 human-lengths, or 1.52 of a double-decker bus. These are estimates from partial skeleton; fields marked estimated by the site are length, mass, hip height.