Saltasaurinae
| Saltasaurines Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, 80–66 Ma |
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| Life restoration of Saltasaurus, the type species | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Order: | Saurischia |
| Suborder: | †Sauropodomorpha |
| Clade: | †Neosauropoda |
| Clade: | †Macronaria |
| Clade: | †Titanosauria |
| Family: | †Saltasauridae |
| Subfamily: |
†Saltasaurinae Powell, 1992 |
| Type species | |
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Saltasaurus loricatus Bonaparte and Powell, 1980 |
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| Genera | |
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Bonatitan |
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Bonatitan
Isisaurus
Rapetosaurus
Trigonosaurus
Loricosaurus?
Neuquensaurus
Rocasaurus
Saltasaurus
Saltasaurinae is a subfamily of titanosaurian sauropods known from the late Cretaceous period of South America, India and Madagascar. They are considered to be the most derived of all sauropods.
Saltasaurines are relatively small sauropods with the general body shape of a small head, long neck, four limbs, and a long tail. They range from the modest length of Rocasaurus around 8 m (26 ft), to the comparably larger length of 15 m (49 ft) of Neuquensaurus. However, a currently unnamed fragmentary sauropod from Madagascar may turn out to be a saltasaurine longer than Neuquensaurus. The weight of Saltasaurines is very light compared to that of some of the largest dinosaurs. Thomas R. Holtz Jr. found the genera range from around 7,000 to 21,000 kg (15,000 to 46,000 lb), with Saltasaurus and an unnamed genus on both extremes, respectively.
Saltasaurinae is the only known group of sauropods with armour from almost every species. The most probable reason for the bony studs and plates is that it evolved for defence against theropods like Abelisaurus and Carnotaurus. Saltasaurine armour has led to controversies. In 1929 the paleontologist Friedrich von Huene named the genus Loricosaurus for armour he thought to be from ankylosaurians. These bones were found to have similarities to those later discovered on sauropods like Saltasaurus and Neuquensaurus, and as such, Loricosaurus may be the same as one of the other genera.
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