Bagualosaurus

Bagualosaurus (from the Portuguese regional term "bagual", referring to a person or animal of strong buildFlávio A. Pretto; Max C. Langer; Cesar L. Schultz 2018. A new dinosaur (Saurischia: Sauropodomorpha) from the Late Triassic of Brazil provides insights on the evolution of sauropodomorph body plan. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society [doi:10.1093/zoolinnean/zly028]) is a sauropodomorph dinosaur. It is the seventh known sauropodomorph discovered in Brazil. It was described in 2018.

Bagualosaurus lived about 230223 million years ago, and grew to about 2.5 meters (8.2 ft) long.

The holotype specimen had a partial skull and jaw, twelve back vertebrae, two tail vertebrae, two chevrons, a pelvis, two partial hindlimbs and five fragmentary ribs. The pieces were found on a ravine at the edge of a pond in rural Agudo in 2007. 

The fossil had been kept in a closet of the Laboratory of Paleovertebrates of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul South. The fossil was described as a sauropodomorph on May 25, 2018.

 Paleoecology 
Bagualosaurus probably had a fully herbivorous diet. They had a dentition well adapted for eating vegetation. All sauropods have two characteristics in common: gigantism and herbivorism. Their diet may have been the source of later sauropod gigantism. Modern trees had not evolved, and herbivores at the time had cycads, ferns and early conifers as food.

Bagualosaurus lived in the Santa Maria Formation alongside animals such as the carnivorous sauropodomorph Buriolestes,  the crocodile-like Cerritosaurus and the possible theropod Staurikosaurus.Langer M.C; Ramezani J; & Da Rosa Á.A.S. 2018. U-Pb age constraints on dinosaur rise from south Brazil. Gondwana Research. X, (18). doi:10.1016/j.gr.2018.01.005

References

Category:Sauropods
Category:Saurischia
Category:Triassic dinosaurs
Category:Dinosaurs of South America
Category:Fossil taxa described in 2018