Loncosaurus
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Loncosaurus Temporal range: Upper Cretaceous |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Sauropsida |
| Superorder: | Dinosauria |
| Order: | Ornithischia |
| Suborder: | Ornithopoda |
| Family: | unknown |
| Genus: |
Loncosaurus Ameghino, 1898 or 1899 |
| Binomial name | |
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Loncosaurus argentinus |
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Loncosaurus (meaning uncertain; either Araucanian "chief" or Greek "lance" "lizard") was a genus of ornithopod dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous of Provincia de Santa Cruz, Argentina. The type (and only known) species is Loncosaurus argentinus, described by the famous Argentinian paleontologist Florentino Ameghino, but is considered a dubious name. Details on this animal are often contradictory, befitting a genus that was long confused for a theropod.
Ameghino named this dinosaur in either 1898 or 1899, from a proximal femur (MACN-1629) and tooth found near Rio Sehuen, Santa Cruz, in either the Cardiel Formation (most sources) or the Matasiete Formation (both being Upper Cretaceous).
Either way, he thought the remains belonged to a "megalosaurid" dinosaur, a carnivore, which Friedrich von Huene agreed with. Upon further review, von Zittel assigned it to the Coeluridae, recognized today as a "wastebasket taxon" for small carnivorous dinosaurs. The carnivore tooth helped this misidentification take hold.
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Wikipedia