Argentinosaurus facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Argentinosaurus |
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| Reconstructed skeleton, Museo Municipal Carmen Funes, Plaza Huincul, Argentina. The original vertebrae are seen on the lower left | |
Scientific classification  |
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| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | Saurischia |
| Suborder: | †Sauropodomorpha |
| Clade: | †Sauropoda |
| Clade: | †Titanosauria |
| Clade: | †Lithostrotia |
| Clade: | †Lognkosauria |
| Genus: | †Argentinosaurus Bonaparte & Coria, 1993 |
| Type species | |
| †Argentinosaurus huinculensis Bonaparte & Coria, 1993
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Argentinosaurus was a titanosaurid sauropod dinosaur. It was an enormous, long-necked, long-tailed, quadrupedal, plant-eater from Argentina, South America during the Cretaceous period.
Argentinosaurus meaning "Argentina lizard", was named by paleontologists Coria & José Bonaparte in 1993. It is known from fossilized back vertebrae, tibia, ribs and sacrum, found in Neuquén Province. It may be the largest dinosaur, but its remains are so incomplete that palaeontologists prefer to use Saltasaurus for their calculations. An accurate estimate was got for the much more complete sub-adult Dreadnoughtus.
Rough estimates
The following shows the disagreement on estimates of size:
- Thomas Holtz: 120 feet (36.6 meters)?
- Mickey Mortimer: 22–26 meters.
Images for kids
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Hypothetical life restoration
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Dorsal vertebra cast in left side view at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
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Dorsal vertebra cast in front view at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, with the palaeontologist Matthew Wedel for scale
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Assigned femur (upper thigh bone), Museo de La Plata
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Skeletal reconstruction in dorsal view, at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History
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Reconstructed skeleton in side view, Fernbank Museum of Natural History
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See also
In Spanish: Argentinosaurus huinculensis para niños
