Antarctosaurus

southern lizard

• antarktos / antarktikos · Greek · opposite the north, southern
• sauros · Greek · lizard

The name means "southern lizard". It combines the Greek word for "opposite the north" (the root of "Antarctic", meaning southern) with the Greek word for lizard. It refers to the southern hemisphere, because the fossils came from South America. It does not refer to the continent of Antarctica, where no fossils of this animal have been found.

Named by

von Huene

Year named

1929

Period

Late Cretaceous

Stage

Campanian

Found in

Anacleto Formation, Patagonia, Argentina (type species A. wichmannianus); other material has been referred from Argentina, Chile and Uruguay.

Antarctosaurus is a titanosaurian sauropod known from fragmentary remains. The type species is A. wichmannianus. A second species, A. giganteus, was based on a very large leg bone and is generally considered doubtful. Some referred material from other regions and ages is uncertain. The stage given for the type species is the most likely one, and I'm less sure about the age of other referred material.