Lessemsaurus

Lessemsaurus; Temporal range: Norian; ~228–208.5 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Clade:	Dinosauria
Clade:	Saurischia
Clade:	†Sauropodomorpha
Clade:	†Sauropoda
Clade:	†Lessemsauridae
Genus:	†Lessemsaurus; Bonaparte 1999
Species:	†L. sauropoides
Binomial name
	†Lessemsaurus sauropoides; Bonaparte 1999

Lessemsaurus is an extinct genus of sauropod dinosaur belonging to Lessemsauridae.

Naming and description[]

Exhibit in Singapore

The type species, L. sauropoides, was formally described by José Fernando Bonaparte in 1999 in honor of Don Lessem, a writer of popular science books. It was found in the Los Colorados Formation of the Ischigualasto-Villa Unión Basin in La Rioja Province, Argentina.^[1]

This dinosaur was around 9 metres (30 ft) long and was discovered in strata dating to the Norian stage, around 210 million years ago.^[2]^[3]

In 2018, Apaldetti et al. recovered it as part of a clade they named Lessemsauridae, after Lessemsaurus. Their cladogram is reproduced below:^[4]

Sauropodiformes

Sauropoda

Gongxianosaurus

^ Weishampel, David B; et al., 2004. "Dinosaur distribution (Late Triassic, South America)." In: Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; and Osmólska, Halszka (eds.): The Dinosauria, 2nd, Berkeley: University of California Press. Pp. 527–528. ISBN 0-520-24209-2.
^ Bonaparte, J. F. (1999). "Evolución de las vértebras presacras en Sauropodomorpha". Ameghiniana. 36: 115–187.
^ Pol, D.; Powell, J. E. (2007). "New information on Lessemsaurus sauropoides (Dinosauria: Sauropodomorpha) from the Upper Triassic of Argentina". Special Papers in Palaeontology. 77: 223–243.
^ Apaldetti; Martínez, Ricardo N.; Cerda, Ignatio A.; Pol, Diego; Alcober, Oscar (2018). "An early trend towards gigantism in Triassic sauropodomorph dinosaurs". Nature Ecology & Evolution. 2 (8): 1227–1232. doi:10.1038/s41559-018-0599-y. hdl:11336/89332. PMID 29988169. S2CID 49669597.

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