In this article titled 15 interesting Agustinia facts were are going to learn about an armored titanosaur – a sauropod that has a pretty unusual name. Why it was named so? What kind of armor did this dinosaur have? When and where did it live? This article is going to answer all these questions. It will be a quick and short article as usual because not much information is available on this extinct creature.
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At a Glance
Name: Agustinia
Lived: 115-100 million years ago in Middle Cretaceous Period
Diet: Plants
Status: Extinct
Locomotion: Quadrupedal
Size: About 50 feet
Weight: Between 10 and 20 tons
Special Characteristics: Spines (armors) along the vertebrae
Found in: Lohan Cura Formation, Argentina
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Interesting Agustinia Facts: 1-15
1. Agustinia is pronounced as ah-gus-TIN-ee-ah.
2. Most interesting of Agustinia facts is that this dinosaur was named after its discoverer Agustin Martinelli. Agustin was a student when he discovered the fossil of this dinosaur.
3. This dinosaur lived during the early parts of Middle-Cretaceous Period. In terms of years, that’s about 115 to 100 million years ago from current time.
4. The dinosaur was a Titanosaur which reached the length of 50 feet from snout to tip of the tail.
5. You can very well guess from its size that the dinosaur was pretty heavy. Paleontologists say that it weighed anywhere between 10 and 20 tons.
6. Agustinia was a quadrupedal dinosaur and fed on plants. Yes, it was an herbivore and did not pose any threat to other animals at least in terms of hunting them down and devouring them.
7. The incomplete type fossil that was unearthed by Agustin revealed that the dinosaur had an armor along its back.
8. The armor was in form of spines along the vertebrae. Paleontologists think that the purpose of the armor was merely display and had nothing to do with defense.
9. Agustinia lived in the woodlands of the area which is currently known as South America.
10. As far as the armor is concerned, some paleontologists who have studied the fossil remains say that what appeared to be armors were actually fragments of hips and ribs. If those paleontologists are correct then, Agustinia didn’t have any armored plates.
11. However, it is assumed that the dinosaur did have armored plates on its neck and back and that the plates were arranged in such a way that they appeared to be thin when looked from side but full size appeared only when looked at from the front.
12. Agustinia was actually named as Augustia in 1998. However, when it was found that Augustia had already been used for naming another creature, the name was changed to Agustinia.
13. Another interesting one of Agustinia facts is that though the fossil was discovered by Agustin Martinelli, paleontologist Jose F. Bonaparte was the person who was actually responsible for identification of the dinosaur.
14. It was Jose F. Bonaparte who renamed Agustinia from Augustia to Agustinia. The renaming took place in 1999.
15. Agustinia lived from Aptian through Albian ages of the Middle Cretaceous Period. The fossil was found from Argentina’s Neuquen Province’s Lohan Cura Formation.