Genus
Valid Extinct

Amargasaurus

Bonaparte 1984

Amargasaurus is a genus of sauropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous epoch of what is now Argentina. The only known skeleton was discovered in 1984 and is virtually complete, including a fragmentary skull, making Amargasaurus one of the best-known sauropods of its epoch. Amargasaurus was first described in 1991 and contains a single known species, Amargasaurus cazaui. It was a large animal, but small for a sauropod, reaching 9 to 13 meters in length. Most distinctively, it sported two parallel rows of tall spines down its neck and back, taller than in any other known sauropod. In life, these spines could have stuck out of the body as solitary structures that supported a keratinous sheath. An alternate hypothesis, now more favored, postulates that they could have formed a scaffold supporting a skin sail. They might have been used for display, combat, or defense.

Temporal range
Triassic
Jurassic
Cretaceous
Paleogene
Neogene
252 201 145 66 0 Ma
PBDB occurrences
2
Group
Dinosaures
Herbivore Ground dwelling, gregarious Terrestrial
Amargasaurus
click to enlarge
historická budova Národního muzea v Praze - západní dvorana s proskleným stropem a kostrou dinosaura / historic building of the National Museum in Prague - West hall with glass ceiling and dinosaur skeleton location: Prague, Czech Republic author: Jan Helebrant www.juhele.blogspot.com license CC0 Public Domain Dedication © Jan Helebrant · CC0 · Wikimedia
PBDB Wikipedia
Classification
Dinosauria Unranked clade
Saurischia Unranked clade
Sauropodomorpha Unranked clade
Massopoda Unranked clade
Sauropodiformes Unranked clade
Sauropoda Unranked clade
Gravisauria Unranked clade
Eusauropoda Unranked clade
Neosauropoda Unranked clade
Diplodocoidea Unranked clade
Diplodocimorpha Unranked clade
Flagellicaudata Unranked clade
Dicraeosauridae Unranked clade
Dicraeosaurinae Unranked clade
Amargasaurus Genus
Fossil sites 2 geolocated sites
Distribution
Top countries
🇦🇷 Argentina
2
Geological formations
La Amarga
2
Temporal distribution
Barremian (125.77–121.4 Ma)
2
Species (2)
Amargasaurus cazaui 126 Ma
Amargasaurus groeberi replaced by Amargasaurus cazaui 126 Ma
Bibliography
Original description
J. F. Bonaparte. 1984. I dinosauri dell’Argentina [. Sulle Orme dei Dinosauri
Bibliography (2)
G. J. Windholz, M. A. Baiano, and F. Bellardini, A. Garrido. 2021. New Dicraeosauridae (Sauropoda, Diplodocoidea) remains from the La Amarga Formation (Barremian–Aptian, Lower Cretaceous), Neuquén Basin, Patagonia, Argentina. Cretaceous Research 117:104629 DOI ↗
L. Salgado and J. F. Bonaparte. 1991. Un nuevo saurópodo Dicraeosauridae, Amargasaurus cazaui gen. et sp. nov., de la Formación La Amarga, Neocomiano de la provincia del Neuquén, Argentina [Amargasaurus cazaui gen. et sp. nov., a new dicraeosaurid sauropod from the La Amarga Formation, Neocomian of Neuquén province, Argentina]. Ameghiniana 28(3-4):333-346