Genus

Valid Extinct

Alamosaurus

Gilmore 1922

Alamosaurus is a genus of titanosaurian sauropod dinosaurs containing a single known species, Alamosaurus sanjuanensis, from the Maastrichtian age of the Late Cretaceous period in what is now southwestern North America. It is one of the few known titanosaurs to have inhabited North America after the nearly 30-million-year absence of sauropods from the North American fossil record and probably represents an immigrant from South America.

Temporal range

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

Paleogene

Neogene

252 201 145 66 0 Ma

PBDB occurrences

Group

Dinosaures

Herbivore Ground dwelling, gregarious Terrestrial

click to enlarge

Alamosaurus sanjuanensis holotype scapula. © Charles W. Gilmore · Public domain · Wikimedia

PBDB ↗ Wikipedia ↗

Classification

Dinosauria Unranked clade

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Saurischia Unranked clade

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Sauropodomorpha Unranked clade

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Massopoda Unranked clade

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Sauropodiformes Unranked clade

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Sauropoda Unranked clade

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Gravisauria Unranked clade

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Eusauropoda Unranked clade

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Neosauropoda Unranked clade

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Macronaria Unranked clade

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Titanosauriformes Unranked clade

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Somphospondyli Unranked clade

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Titanosauria Unranked clade

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Lithostrotia Unranked clade

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Saltasauroidea Superfamily

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Lohuecosauria Unranked clade

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Saltasauridae Unranked clade

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Saltasaurinae Subfamily

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Alamosaurus Genus

Fossil sites 38 geolocated sites

Distribution

Top countries

🇺🇸 United States

🇲🇽 Mexico

Geological formations

Ojo Alamo

Javelina

Kirtland

North Horn

McRae

Hall Lake

Black Peaks

Temporal distribution

Maastrichtian (72.2–66 Ma)

Campanian (83.6–72.2 Ma)

Species (1)

Alamosaurus sanjuanensis 84 Ma

Bibliography

Original description

C. W. Gilmore. 1922. A new sauropod dinosaur from the Ojo Alamo Formation of New Mexico. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections 72(34):1-9

Bibliography (19)

S. G. Dalman, M. A. Loewen, and R. A. Pyron, S. E. Jasinski, D. E. Malinzak, S. G. Lucas, A. R. Fiorilllo, P. J. Currie, N. R. Longrich. 2024. A giant tyrannosaur from the Campanian–Maastrichtian of southern North America and the evolution of tyrannosaurid gigantism. Scientific Reports 13:22124:1-11 DOI ↗

H. E. Rivera-Sylva, R. L. Nava-Rodríguez, and I. E. Sánchez-Uribe. 2021. Dinosaurs from the Late Cretaceous of the Ojinaga Basin in Northeastern Chihuahua, Mexico. Paleontología Mexicana 10(2):105-111

M. D'Emic, J. A. Wilson, and T. E. Williamson. 2011. A sauropod dinosaur pes from the latest Cretaceous of North America and the validity of Alamosaurus sanjuanensis (Sauropoda, Titanosauria). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 31(5):1072-1079 DOI ↗

D. W. Fowler and R. M. Sullivan. 2011. The first giant titanosaurian sauropod from the Upper Cretaceous of North America. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 56(4):685-690 DOI ↗

S. E. Jasinski, R. M. Sullivan, and S. G. Lucas. 2011. Taxonomic composition of the Alamo Wash local fauna from the Upper Cretaceous Ojo Alamo Formation (Naashoibito Member), San Juan Basin, New Mexico. Fossil Record 3. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin 53:216-271

R. K. Hunt and T. M. Lehman. 2008. Attributes of the ceratopsian dinosaur Torosaurus, and new material from the Javelina Formation (Maastrichtian) of Texas. Journal of Paleontology 82(6):1127-1138 DOI ↗

T. M. Lehman and A. B. Coulson. 2002. A juvenile specimen of the sauropod dinosaur Alamosaurus sanjuanensis from the Upper Cretaceous of Big Bend National Park, Texas. Journal of Paleontology 76(1):156-172 DOI ↗

S. G. Lucas and R. M. Sullivan. 2000. The sauropod dinosaur Alamosaurus from the Upper Cretaceous of the San Juan Basin, New Mexico. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin 17:147-156

S. G. Lucas and R. M. Sullivan. 2000. Stratigraphy and vertebrate biostratigraphy across the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary, Betonnie Tsosie Wash, San Juan Basin, New Mexico. Dinosaurs of New Mexico. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin 17:95-104

A. R. Fiorillo. 1998. Preliminary report on a new sauropod locality in the Javelina Formation (Late Cretaceous), Big Bend National Park, Texas. In V. L. Santucci & L. McClelland (eds.), National Park Service Geologic Resources Division Technical Report NPS/NRGRD/GRDTR-98/01. National Park Service Paleontological Research Volume 3:29-31

S. G. Lucas, N. J. Mateer, and A. P. Hunt, F. M. O.'Neill. 1987. Dinosaurs, the age of the Fruitland and Kirtland Formations, and the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary in the San Juan Basin, New Mexico. J. E. Fassett and J. K. Rigby, Jr. (eds.), The Cretaceous-Tertiary Boundary in the San Juan and Raton Basins, New Mexico and Colorado, Geological Society of America Special Paper 209:35-50 DOI ↗

T. M. Lehman. 1985. Stratigraphy, Sedimentology, and Paleontology of Upper Cretaceous (Campanian–Maastrichtian) Sedimentary Rocks in Trans-Pecos Texas DOI ↗

R. P. Lozinsky, A. P. Hunt, and D. L. Wolberg, S. G. Lucas. 1984. Late Cretaceous (Lancian) dinosaurs from the McRae Formation, Sierra County, New Mexico. New Mexico Geology 6(4):72-77 DOI ↗

S. G. Lucas. 1981. Dinosaur communities of the San Juan Basin: a case for lateral variations in the composition of Late Cretaceous dinosaur communities. Advances in San Juan Basin Paleontology

B. S. Kues, T. M. Lehman, and J. K. Rigby, Jr. 1980. The teeth of Alamosaurus sanjuanensis, a Late Cretaceous sauropod. Journal of Paleontology 54(4):864-869

E. M. Spieker. 1960. The Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary in Utah. International Paleontological Union, International Geological Congress (21st session)

C. W. Gilmore. 1946. Reptilian fauna of the North Horn Formation of central Utah. United States Department of the Interior Geological Survey Professional Paper 210-C:29-53 DOI ↗

B. Brown. 1941. The methods of Walt Disney Productions. Transactions of the New York Academy of Sciences, Series 2 3(4):100-105 DOI ↗

C. W. Gilmore. 1922. A new sauropod dinosaur from the Ojo Alamo Formation of New Mexico. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections 72(34):1-9