Genus
Valid Extinct

Chilesaurus

Novas et al. 2015

Chilesaurus is an extinct genus of herbivorous dinosaur. While its exact classification is uncertain, many researchers believe it is a theropod, with a minority of academics suggesting that it may be an ornithischian. The type and only known species so far is Chilesaurus diegosuarezi. Chilesaurus lived between 148-147 million years ago (Mya) in the Late Jurassic period of Chile. Showing a combination of traits from theropods, ornithischians, and sauropodomorphs, this genus has far-reaching implications for the evolution of dinosaurs, such as whether the traditional saurischian-ornithischian split is superior or inferior to the proposed group Ornithoscelida. This however, has been contested by several other authors, who believe that the weight of evidence supports its membership within Theropoda, and possibly as a member of Tetanurae.

Temporal range
Triassic
Jurassic
Cretaceous
Paleogene
Neogene
252 201 145 66 0 Ma
PBDB occurrences
1
Group
Dinosaures
Herbivore Ground dwelling, gregarious Terrestrial
Chilesaurus
click to enlarge
Chilesaurus holotype cast. © Evelyn D'Esposito · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia
PBDB Wikipedia
Classification
Dinosauria Unranked clade
Ornithischia Unranked clade
Chilesaurus Genus
Fossil sites 1 geolocated sites
Distribution
Top countries
🇨🇱 Chile
1
Geological formations
Toqui
1
Temporal distribution
Tithonian (149.2–143.1 Ma)
1
Species (1)
Chilesaurus diegosuarezi 149 Ma
Images 2
Bibliography
Original description
F. E. Novas, L. Salgado, and M. Suárez, F. L. Agnolín, M. D. Ezcurra, N. R. Chimento, R. de la Cruz, M. P. Isasi, A. O. Vargas, D. Rubilar-Rogers. 2015. An enigmatic plant-eating theropod from the Late Jurassic period of Chile. Nature 522(7556):331-334 DOI ↗
Bibliography (1)
F. E. Novas, L. Salgado, and M. Suárez, F. L. Agnolín, M. D. Ezcurra, N. R. Chimento, R. de la Cruz, M. P. Isasi, A. O. Vargas, D. Rubilar-Rogers. 2015. An enigmatic plant-eating theropod from the Late Jurassic period of Chile. Nature 522(7556):331-334 DOI ↗