Photo © Paul Sereno
The Herrerasaurus site in ArgentinaLocation: Ishigualasto
badlands of Argentina
Age
of fossil beds: Middle
Triassic
Primary
Goals: Search
for dinosaur origins
Accomplishments:
Discovery of Herrerasaurus ischigualastensis.
Known previously only from hind limb
bones, Paul Sereno's discovery of an articulated
skeleton eroding from a sandstone ledge
allowed the team to reconstruct Herrerasaurus'
12-foot long skeleton. A skeleton and flesh
model is currently on display at the Field
Museum of Natural History in Chicago.
Highlights:
It's nice to start out with a bang...
"The earliest dinosaur remains
were discovered in the late 1950s in the foothills
of the Andes in northwestern Argentina. The
goals of this expedition, my first as leader,
was to explore this region known as Ischigualasto,
to recover more complete remains of the earliest
dinosaurs, and to better document the transition
to a world dominated by dinosaurs.
I and my six-person American crew departed for
Argentina in April. We were joined by several
Argentine colleagues, setting up camp in the Ischigualasto
badlands for a two-month stay. Three weeks later,
I discovered an articulated skeleton of Herrerasaurus eroding from a sandstone ledge: my eyes slowly
stopped along what appeared to be neck vertebrae
- literally, one by one - right up to the back
end of the skull of a primitive dinosaur.
Unlike the early finds reported 25 years before,
this skeleton had a skull and forelimbs, which
allowed the first accurate reconstruction of this
very primitive dinosaur.
Besides several additional partial skeletons
of Herrerasaurus,
the team discovered the remains of many other
contemporary animals and plants. The Triassic
habitat that Herrerasaurus roamed was forested
and dissected by rivers and transient lakes.
Herrerasaurus was
named in honor of Victorino Herrera, a local artisan
who led paleontologists to the first bones some
25 years ago. It was a great treat to meet Victorino
and his wife in their modest home on the edge
of Ischigualasto, just after our discovery of
the Herrerasaurus skeleton. He passed away
in 1990." - Paul Sereno |
