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''Unaysaurus'' is a genus of sauropodomorph herbivore dinosaur. Discovered in southern Brazil, in the geopark of paleorrota, in 1998, and announced in a press conference on Thursday, December 3, 2004, it is one of the oldest dinosaurs known. It is closely related to plateosaurid dinosaurs found in Germany, which indicates that it was relatively easy for species to spread across the giant landmass of the time, the supercontinent of Pangaea.〔 Like most early dinosaurs, ''Unaysaurus'' was relatively small, and walked on two legs. It was only 2.5 meters long (8.2 ft), 70 to 80 centimeters tall (2 to 3 ft), and weighed about 70 kilograms (155 lb). The fossils of ''Unaysaurus'' are well preserved. They consist of an almost complete skull, complete with a lower jaw, and partial skeleton with many of the bones still connected to each other in their natural positions. It is one of the most complete dinosaur skeletons (including complete skull) ever recovered in Brazil. == Discovery and naming == ''Unaysaurus'' was found in the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, near the city of Santa Maria. It was recovered from the red beds of the Caturrita Formation, which is the geologic formation where similarly old dinosaurs like ''Saturnalia'' have been found. The oldest dinosaurs in the world are from here and nearby in Argentina (like the ''Eoraptor''), which suggests that the first dinosaurs may have originated in the area. The new species and genus were officially described by Luciano A. Leal, Sergio A. K. Azevodo, Alexander W. A. Kellner, and Átila A. S. da Rosa in the October 18, 2004 issue of the scientific journal ''Zootaxa''. The name ''Unaysaurus'' comes from the word ''unay'' (u-na-hee), meaning "black water" in the local Tupi language, which in turn refers to ''Agua Negra'' (also "black water"), the Portuguese name for the region where the fossils were found. The species epithet ''tolentinoi'' is named after Tolentino Marafiga, who discovered the fossils by the side of a road in 1998.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Unaysaurus」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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