Adamantisaurus is an extinct type of dinosaur that lived during the Late Cretaceous period, around 75 million years ago.
This dinosaur was found in what is now Brazil and is known from just a few fossilized tail bones. Being a sauropod, we can imagine it as a large dinosaur with a long neck and a long tail.
Adamantisaurus is not very well-known, so scientists are still trying to figure out its exact relationships to other dinosaurs. Some similarities have been noticed between Adamantisaurus and another dinosaur called Aeolosaurus, as well as a group of dinosaurs from a region known as Bauru.
Most of what we know about Adamantisaurus comes from the bones of its tail. Scientists estimate it could have been about 13 to 18 meters long and weighed between 5 to 14 tons.
The remains of Adamantisaurus were first mentioned in 1959, but the dinosaur was officially named in 2006 by two Brazilian paleontologists, Rodrigo Santucci and Reinaldo Bertini. The name “Adamantisaurus” comes from the area where the fossil was found, called the Adamantina Formation, along with the Greek word “sauros,” which means lizard.
The species name, Adamantisaurus mezzalirai, honors Sérgio Mezzalira, the geologist who discovered the first remains of this dinosaur.
As for its place in the dinosaur family tree, Adamantisaurus is thought to be more advanced than a dinosaur called Malawisaurus. However, its exact relationships to other titanosaurs are still not completely understood. It shares its home, the Adamantina Formation, with another similar dinosaur known as Gondwanatitan.