Genus
Valid Extinct

Mussaurus

Bonaparte and Vince 1979
Etymology Reptile souris

Mussaurus is a genus of herbivorous sauropodomorph dinosaur that lived in southern Argentina during the Sinemurian stage of the Early Jurassic. It receives its name from the small size of the skeletons of juvenile and infant individuals, which were once the only known specimens of the genus. However, since Mussaurus is now known from adult specimens, the name is something of a misnomer.

Temporal range
Triassic
Jurassic
Cretaceous
Paleogene
Neogene
252 201 145 66 0 Ma
PBDB occurrences
2
Group
Dinosaures
Terrestrial
Mussaurus
click to enlarge
Wikimedia
PBDB ↗ Wikipedia ↗
Classification
Dinosauria Unranked clade
›
Saurischia Unranked clade
›
Sauropodomorpha Unranked clade
›
Massopoda Unranked clade
›
Sauropodiformes Unranked clade
›
Mussaurus Genus
Fossil sites 2 geolocated sites
Distribution
Top countries
🇦🇷 Argentina
2
Geological formations
Laguna Colorada
2
Temporal distribution
Sinemurian (199.5–192.9 Ma)
2
Species (1)
Mussaurus patagonicus 200 Ma
Images 1
Bibliography
Original description
J. F. Bonaparte and M. Vince. 1979. El hallazgo del primer nido de dinosaurios triasicos, (Saurischia, Prosauropoda), Triasico Superior de Patagonia, Argentina [The discovery of the first nest of Triassic dinosaurs (Saurischia, Prosauropoda,) from the Upper Triassic of Patagonia, Argentina]. Ameghiniana 16(1-2):173-182
Bibliography (2)
D. Pol and J. E. Powell. 2007. Skull anatomy of Mussaurus patagonicus (Dinosauria: Sauropodomorpha) from the Late Triassic of Patagonia. Historical Biology 19(1):125-144 DOI ↗
J. F. Bonaparte and M. Vince. 1979. El hallazgo del primer nido de dinosaurios triasicos, (Saurischia, Prosauropoda), Triasico Superior de Patagonia, Argentina [The discovery of the first nest of Triassic dinosaurs (Saurischia, Prosauropoda,) from the Upper Triassic of Patagonia, Argentina]. Ameghiniana 16(1-2):173-182