Loricosaurus (meaning "armour lizard") is a genus of sauropod represented by a single species. It is a titanosaurian that lived near the end of the Late Cretaceous period, approximately 71 million years ago in the early Maastrichtian. Found in the province of Neuquen, Argentina in the Allen Formation. Due to the presence of armour, at first it was thought that it was an ankylosaur, but today it is considered to be the armour of a titanosaur.
| Loricosaurus Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, early Maastrichtian
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Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | Saurischia |
| Clade: | †Sauropodomorpha |
| Clade: | †Sauropoda |
| Clade: | †Macronaria |
| Clade: | †Titanosauria |
| Family: | †Saltasauridae |
| Subfamily: | †Saltasaurinae |
| Genus: | †Loricosaurus von Huene, 1929 |
| Species: | †L. scutatus
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| Binomial name | |
| †Loricosaurus scutatus von Huene, 1929
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Armour
editThe armour of Loricosaurus has caused some controversy. When Huene first described it, he considered it to be from an ankylosaur. Later, it was discovered to not belong to ankylosaurs, but to belong to titanosaurs.[1] Now it is considered to possibly belong to Neuquensaurus or Saltasaurus.[2]
Species
editIn 1929 von Huene described Loricosaurus based on some armour osteoderms found in Argentina. The type species, Loricosaurus scutatus, is now considered possibly a synonym of Neuquensaurus.[2]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Holtz, Thomas R Jr. (2011) Dinosaurs: The Most Complete,Up-to-date Encyclopedia for Dinosaur Lovers Of All Ages, Winter 2010 Appendix.
- ^ a b "Loricosaurus". Paleobiology Database. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
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