Losillasaurus

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title: "Losillasaurus" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["turiasauria", "dinosaur-genera", "kimmeridgian-dinosaurs", "fossil-taxa-described-in-2001", "dinosaurs-of-spain"] description: "Extinct genus of dinosaurs" topic_path: "geography/spain" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Losillasaurus" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Extinct genus of dinosaurs ::

| fossil_range = Late Jurassic, | image = Museo de Ciencias Naturales de Valencia AD 11.JPG | image_caption = L. giganteus vertebra | taxon = Losillasaurus giganteus | parent_authority = Casanovas et al., 2001 | authority = Casanovas et al., 2001 | display_parents = 2

Losillasaurus (meaning "Losilla lizard") is a genus of turiasaurian sauropod dinosaur from the Late Jurassic and possibly Early Cretaceous (Kimmeridgian-?Berriasian) of southeastern Spain. The type species, Losillasaurus giganteus, was discovered in the Villar del Arzobispo Formation in Valencia, and formally described by Casanovas, Santafé, and Sanz in 2001. The holotype material is from a subadult and includes part of a skull; complete cervical, dorsal, sacral, and caudal vertebrae as well as several fragments; skeletal elements from the limbs including a humerus, ulna, radius, and metacarpal; sternal plates; and from the pelvis: the ilium, ischium, and pubis. The genus is characterized by the dimension and shape of the neural spine of the proximal caudal vertebrae. The humerus is 143 cm long, which despite being from a subadult specimen is within 20% of the size of Paralititan. The size estimation proposed by Francisco Gascó in his master thesis is 15 – in length and 12 - in body mass.

Description

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/57/Losillasaurus_día.png" caption="Reconstruction of ''Losillasaurus giganteus''"] ::

Several specimens of L. giganteus were described in 2019 and 2020 - one such specimen (SHN 180) consists of a single anterior caudal vertebra, while another (the holotype) consists of a partial skull with teeth and partial postcranial skeleton. According to Rafael Royo-Torres et al., the specimen helps scientists to understand tooth variation, allows the positioning of isolated heart-shaped teeth in the skull and demonstrates heterodonty in Turiasauria.

References

References

1. Casanovas, Maria Lourdes. (2001). "''Losillasaurus giganteus'', un nuevo saurópodo del tránsito Jurásico-Cretácico e la Cuenca de "Los Serranos" (Valencia, España)". Paleontologia i Evolució.
2. Ruiz-Omeñaca, Jose Ignacio (2001). "[http://dml.cmnh.org/2001Jun/msg00206.html ''Losillasaurus giganteus'', a new Spanish sauropod]". ''Dinosaur Mailing List''.
3. Ruiz-Omeñaca, Jose Ignacio (2001).[http://dml.cmnh.org/2001Jun/msg00213.html "Re: ''Losillasaurus giganteus'', a new Spanish sauropod]". ''Dinosaur Mailing List''.
4. Taylor, Mike (2001). "[http://dml.cmnh.org/2001Jun/msg00238.html Re: ''Losillasaurus giganteus'', a new Spanish sauropod]". ''Dinosaur Mailing List''
5. Gascó, F (2009): Sistemática y anatomía funcional de ''Losillasaurus giganteus'' Casanovas, Santafé & Sanz, 2001 (Turiasauria, Sauropoda). Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.
6. Campos-Soto S, Benito MI, Cobos A, Caus E, Quijada IE, Suarez-Gonzalez P, Mas R, Royo-Torres R, Alcalá L. 2019. Revisiting the age and palaeoenvironments of the Upper Jurassic–Lower Cretaceous? Dinosaur-bearing sedimentary record of eastern Spain: implications for Iberian palaeogeography. Journal of Iberian Geology 45: 471–510.
7. (2020). "Origin and evolution of turiasaur dinosaurs set by means of a new 'rosetta' specimen from Spain". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::