Dino card No. 0165 of 2,015

Argentinosaurus

Say it: ar-jen-TEEN-oh-SORE-us

Name means: “Argentina lizard”1

Ate: PlantsLong-necksEarly Cretaceous

Argentinosaurus was one of the biggest land animals that ever lived. This giant plant-eater had a long neck and tail, and it weighed as much as a herd of elephants. It lived in what is now Argentina during the Cretaceous Period.3 1

Lived

110 to 106 million years ago3

Early Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Neuquén Province, Argentina3 1

Food

Plants3

Length

30 to 40 m1

estimate, since only a few bones are known

Weight

60 tonnes to 100 tonnes1

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

Argentinosaurus is known from only a few bones: six back vertebrae, part of the hip, a rib, and a shin bone.1

Its shin bone (tibia) is 155 centimetres (about 5 feet) long, longer than a tall adult human.1 2

The back vertebrae had extra joints called hyposphene-hypantrum, which helped support its huge body.1

Its ribs were hollow and tube-shaped, making the skeleton lighter.1

Argentinosaurus lived about 110 to 106 million years ago, during the Albian stage of the Cretaceous.3

The fossils were found on a farm called Las Overas, near the town of Plaza Huincul.1

It was named by paleontologists José Bonaparte and Rodolfo Coria in 1993.3 1

AI-made picture of Argentinosaurus — An AI-made picture of how Argentinosaurus might have looked, made by a computer from what scientists know. It is a guess: the real animal may have looked different, and nobody knows its true colours.

Myth buster

Myth: Argentinosaurus is the largest dinosaur ever discovered.

Truth: Scientists are not sure. Because only a few bones have been found, its size is an estimate. Other giant sauropods like Patagotitan may have been similar in size.1

For dino experts

Scientific name: Argentinosaurus
Named by: Bonaparte and Coria 19933
Group: Long-necks
Family / clade: Eutitanosauria3
Classification: Sauropodomorpha > Sauropoda > Titanosauria > Macronaria3
Age of the rocks: 110 to 106 million years (Albian)3
Rock formations: Huincul3
Countries: Argentina3
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database3
Discovery: A farmer named Guillermo Heredia found the first bone on his land in Neuquén, Argentina. In 1989, a team from the Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales dug up the fossils. José Bonaparte and Rodolfo Coria named it Argentinosaurus huinculensis in 1993.1
Still debated: Scientists debate exactly how big Argentinosaurus was, because only a few bones have been found. Its total length and weight are rough estimates.1

Where the facts come from

A NEW AND HUGE TITANOSAUR SAUROPOD FROM THE RÍO LIMAY FORMATION (ALBIAN-CENOMANIAN) OF NEUQUÉN PROVINCE, ARGENTINA* (naturalhistory.si.edu)
UN NUEVO Y GIGANTESCO SAUROPODO TITANOSAURIO DE LA FORMACION RIO LIMAY (ALBIANO-CENOMANIANO) DE LA PROVINCIA DEL NEUQUEN, ARGENTINA | Ameghiniana (ameghiniana.org.ar)
Argentinosaurus in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

Every fact on this page has a number that points to its source. If we got something wrong, sorry, we are dino fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.