Leaellynasaura

Leaellynasaura (meaning "Leaellyn's lizard") was a fast-running, plant-eating dinosaur that lived in Australia during the middle Cretaceous Period, roughly 115-110 million years ago. Australia was within the Antarctic Circle during the Cretaceous period, and it had a very long winter.

Leaellynasaura
Temporal range: Early Cretaceous
Leaellynasaura BW.jpg
Scientific classification
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Leaellynasaura

Rich & Rich, 1989
Species
  • L. amicagraphica Rich & Rich, 1989 (type)

Description

Leaellynasaura is known from two nearly complete skeletons and two skulls. It is described as an ornithopod.[1] Unlike some other ornithischians, the Leaellynasaura did not have any tendons in its tail. The tail is known for being among the longest of its relatives: it was three times longer than the rest of the whole body. It also has more vertebrae in its tail than any other ornithischians except for some hadrosaurs.[2] It also had large eyes to help it look in the dark winter.

Leaellynasaura Media

References

  1. Federico L. Agnolin, Martın D. Ezcurra, Diego F. Pais and Steven W. Salisbury (2010). "A reappraisal of the Cretaceous non-avian dinosaur faunas from Australia and New Zealand: evidence for their Gondwanan affinities" Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, 8 (2) [1]
  2. Herne, M. (2009). "Postcranial osteology of Leaellynasaura amicagraphica (Dinosauria; Ornithischia) from the Early Cretaceous of southeastern Australia." Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 29(3): 33A.[2] Archived 2010-07-15 at the Wayback Machine