''Chromogisaurus'' is an extinct genus of saturnaliid

sauropodomorph Sauropodomorpha ( ; from Greek, meaning "lizard-footed forms") is an extinct clade of long-necked, herbivorous, saurischian dinosaurs that includes the sauropods and their ancestral relatives. Sauropods generally grew to very large sizes, had lo ...

which existed in

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

during the

Late Triassic The Late Triassic is the third and final epoch (geology), epoch of the Triassic geologic time scale, Period in the geologic time scale, spanning the time between annum, Ma and Ma (million years ago). It is preceded by the Middle Triassic Epoch a ...

(

Carnian The Carnian (less commonly, Karnian) is the lowermost stage (stratigraphy), stage of the Upper Triassic series (stratigraphy), Series (or earliest age (geology), age of the Late Triassic Epoch (reference date), Epoch). It lasted from 237 to 227.3 ...

) period. It is from the Cancha de Bochas, Valle Pintado member of the

Ischigualasto Formation The Ischigualasto Formation is a Late Triassic geological formation in the Ischigualasto-Villa Unión Basin of southwestern La Rioja Province, Argentina, La Rioja Province and northeastern San Juan Province, Argentina, San Juan Province in northw ...

. It was a small, bipedal

herbivore A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically evolved to feed on plants, especially upon vascular tissues such as foliage, fruits or seeds, as the main component of its diet. These more broadly also encompass animals that eat ...

, about in length.

Description

''Chromogisaurus'' was first named by

Martín Daniel Ezcurra Martin may refer to: Places Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Europe * Martin, Croatia, a village * Martin, Slovakia, a city * Martín del Río, Aragón, Spain * Martín ...

in 2010, and the type species is ''Chromogisaurus novasi''. The generic name is derived from

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

''chroma'', "colour", and ''gè'', "earth", a reference to the Valle Pintado, the "Painted Valley". The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

honours

Fernando Emilio Novas Fernando Emilio Novas (born 1960) is an Argentina, Argentine Paleontology, paleontologist working for the Comparative Anatomy Department of the Bernardino Rivadavia Natural Sciences Museum in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

. The

holotype A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...

, PVSJ 845, was found in the Cancha de Bochas Member of the

, dating to the

. This makes ''Chromogisaurus'' one of the oldest known

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic Geological period, period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the #Evolutio ...

s. The specimen consists of a partial skeleton lacking the skull, with elements of the front and hind limbs, as well as the pelvis and two caudal vertebrae. A

cladistic Cladistics ( ; from Ancient Greek 'branch') is an approach to biological classification in which organisms are categorized in groups ("clades") based on hypotheses of most recent common ancestry. The evidence for hypothesized relationships is ...

analysis by Ezcurra indicated that ''Chromogisaurus'' was a member of a

clade In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach t ...

basal

sauropodomorphs Sauropodomorpha ( ; from Greek, meaning "lizard-footed forms") is an extinct clade of long-necked, herbivorous, saurischian dinosaurs that includes the sauropods and their ancestral relatives. Sauropods generally grew to very large sizes, had lo ...

, the

Guaibasauridae Guaibasauridae is a family of basal sauropodomorph dinosaurs, known from fossil remains of late Triassic period formations in Brazil, Argentina and India. Classification The exact makeup and classification of the Guaibasauridae remain uncertain ...

, together with '' Guaibasaurus'', the disputed '' Agnosphitys'', '' Panphagia'' and ''

Saturnalia Saturnalia is an Roman festivals, ancient Roman festival and holiday in honour of the List of Roman deities, god Saturn (mythology), Saturn, held on 17 December in the Julian calendar and later expanded with festivities until 19 December. By t ...

''. Within Guaibasauridae, it forms a smaller clade with its sister taxon ''Saturnalia'', the Saturnaliinae.

References

{{Portal bar, Dinosaurs Saturnaliidae Dinosaur genera Carnian dinosaurs Ischigualasto Formation Fossil taxa described in 2010 Dinosaurs of Argentina