Pisanosaurus

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Categories: Invalid conservation status | Dinosaur stubs | Ornithischians | Dinosaurs of South America | Triassic dinosaurs

Pisanosaurus
Fossil range: Late Triassic

Conservation status

n/a (fossil)

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Sauropsida
Superorder:	Dinosauria
Order:	Ornithischia
Genus:	Pisanosaurus

Pisanosaurus mertii (the name comes from "Pisano", who was an associate of the finder, and "saurus" meaning lizard or reptile) is a primitive bipedal Ornithischian dinosaur from the Late Triassic.

Pisanosaurus was 3.2 feet (1 meter) in length and 12 inches (30.48 centimeters) in height. Its weight estimate is just under 8.8 pounds (four kilograms). These estimates vary due to the incompleteness of the fossil.

Pisanosaurus is known from a fragmented skeleton found in Argentina. It is very basal within Ornithischia; the postcrania seem to lack any good ornithischian synapomorphy; it has even been suggested the fossil is a chimera.

References

R. M. Casamiquela, 1967. Un nuevo dinosaurio ornitisquio triásico (Pisanosaurus mertii; Ornithopoda) de la Formación Ischigualasto, Argentina. Ameghiniana 4(2):47-64