abstract
| - Fossils of Chilesaurus, a vertebra and a rib, were first discovered on 4 February 2004 by the seven-year-old Diego Suárez who, together with his parents, geologists Manuel Suárez and Rita de la Cruz, was searching for decorative stones in the Aysén Region. More specimens were present that in 2008 were reported as representing several dinosaurian species.[2] Only later was it realised that these belonged to a single species with a bizarre combination of traits. In 2015, the type species Chilesaurus diegosuarezi was named and described by Fernando Emilio Novas, Leonardo Salgado, Manuel Suárez, Federico Lisandro Agnolín, Martín Dário Ezcurra, Nicolás Chimento, Rita de la Cruz, Marcelo Pablo Isasi, Alexander Omar Vargas and David Rubilar-Rogers. The generic name refers to Chile. The specific name honours Diego Suárez.[1] The holotype, SNGM-1935, was found in a layer of the Toqui Formation dating from the late Tithonian. It consists of an articulated rather complete skeleton with skull of a juvenile individual, lacking the feet and most of the tail. Four other partial skeletons (specimens SNGM-1937, SNGM-1936, SNGM-1938, SNGM-1888) and several single bones (specimens SNGM-1889, SNGM-1895, SNGM-1901 SNGM-1894, SNGM-1898, SNGM-1900 and SNGM-1903) are the paratypes. They represent juvenile and adult individuals.
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