During the Late Cretaceous period, approximately 80 million years ago, Neuquensaurus australis, a 7 to 8-metre long sauropod dinosaur, roamed the land of what is now Argentina and Uruguay.
Neuquensaurus belongs to a group of Cretaceous sauropods called the Titanosaurians. Like other Titanosaurs, Neuquensaurus possessed bony scutes called osteoderms along its back that would have acted like armour, protecting it from the predatory Abelisaurid theropods that also inhabited Argentina at this time.
Facts
Period | Cretaceous |
Age | approx. 80 million years old |
Diet | Herbivore |
Height | 2 metres at the hips |
Length | 7 – 8 metres |
Weight | 2-3 tonnes |
Discovered at | Bajo de la Carpa Formation, Neuquén, Argentina (1997). |
Discovered by | Jaime Powell et al |