Genus
Valid Extinct

Unaysaurus

Leal et al. 2004

Unaysaurus is a genus of herbivorous unaysaurid sauropodomorph dinosaur. Discovered in southern Brazil, in the geopark of Paleorrota, in 1998, and announced in a press conference on Thursday, December 3, 2004, it is one of the oldest dinosaurs known. It is closely related to plateosaurid dinosaurs found in Germany, which indicates that it was relatively easy for species to spread across the giant landmass of the time, the supercontinent of Pangaea. The fossils of Unaysaurus are well-preserved. They consist of an almost complete skull, including a lower jaw, and partial skeleton with many of the bones still connected to each other in their natural positions. It is one of the most complete dinosaur skeletons ever recovered in Brazil.

Temporal range
Triassic
Jurassic
Cretaceous
Paleogene
Neogene
252 201 145 66 0 Ma
PBDB occurrences
1
Group
Dinosaures
Terrestrial
Unaysaurus
click to enlarge
Skeletal reconstruction of Unaysaurus tolentinoi © Maurissauro · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia
PBDB Wikipedia
Classification
Dinosauria Unranked clade
Saurischia Unranked clade
Sauropodomorpha Unranked clade
Plateosauridae Family
Unaysaurus Genus
Fossil sites 1 geolocated sites
Distribution
Top countries
🇧🇷 Brazil
1
Geological formations
Caturrita
1
Temporal distribution
Norian (227.3–205.7 Ma)
1
Species (1)
Unaysaurus tolentinoi 227 Ma
Images 2
Bibliography
Original description
L. A. Leal, S. A. K. Azevedo, and A. W. A. Kellner, A. A. S. Da Rosa. 2004. A new early dinosaur (Sauropodomorpha) from the Caturrita Formation (Late Triassic), Paraná Basin, Brazil. Zootaxa 690:1-24 DOI ↗
Bibliography (1)
L. A. Leal, S. A. K. Azevedo, and A. W. A. Kellner, A. A. S. Da Rosa. 2004. A new early dinosaur (Sauropodomorpha) from the Caturrita Formation (Late Triassic), Paraná Basin, Brazil. Zootaxa 690:1-24 DOI ↗