Aeolosaurus

Aeolus lizard

• Aeolo- (Aiolos) · Greek · Aeolus, the Greek keeper or god of the winds
• -saurus (sauros) · Greek · lizard

The name combines Aeolus, the Greek god of the winds, with the Greek word for "lizard". It is usually explained as a reference to the windy climate of Patagonia, where the first fossils were found. It is a titanosaur, a type of long-necked sauropod dinosaur.

Named by

Powell

Year named

1987

Period

Late Cretaceous

Stages

Campanian – Maastrichtian

Found in

Angostura Colorada Formation, Río Negro Province, Argentina (type species A. rionegrinus). Other species are known from elsewhere in Argentina and from Brazil.

The type species is Aeolosaurus rionegrinus. Other species have been assigned to the genus, including A. colhuehuapensis and A. maximus (Brazil). The exact reason Powell chose the name is not something I could verify in detail, so the windy-Patagonia explanation is the commonly given one.