Dinosaur genus
Chilesaurus
Chilesaurus is a dinosaur genus known from bones, found in rocks 149.2–143.1 million years old.
Confidence labels are switched off. Facts with low confidence, or where sources disagree, still carry a small dot: tap it for the reason.
At a glance
Data as of 12 October 2026- Named by
- Novas et al. 2015
medium
medium: Only PBDB gives this; nothing contradicts it.Sources
Given by: Paleobiology Database. How it was chosen: PBDB leads.
- Described in
- F. E. Novas, L. Salgado, M. Suárez, F. L. Agnolín, M. D. Ezcurra, N. R. Chimento, R. de la Cruz, M. P. Isasi, A. O. Vargas, D. Rubilar-Rogers (2015). An enigmatic plant-eating theropod from the Late Jurassic period of Chile. Nature 522(7556): 331–334. Read it
medium
medium: Only PBDB gives this; its author and year match the naming authority (Novas et al. 2015).Sources
Given by: Paleobiology Database. The publication the Paleobiology Database gives as the authority for this genus name, usually the one that first named and described it.
- Type species
- Chilesaurus diegosuarezi
medium
medium: Only PBDB gives this; nothing contradicts it.Sources
Given by: Paleobiology Database. How it was chosen: PBDB leads.
- Lived
- Tithonian, 149.2–143.1 million years ago
medium
medium: Only PBDB gives this; nothing contradicts it.Omnisaura calculation149.2–143.1 million years ago, from its dated fossil recordslow
low: Omnisaura's calculation from only 1 dated record(s).Sources
Given by: Paleobiology Database. How it was chosen: PBDB leads.
- Rock formations
- Toqui
low
low: Only one PBDB record.Sources
Given by: Paleobiology Database. How it was chosen: Canonical names, automatic and editor-approved matches applied.
- Parent group
- Ornithischia
medium
medium: Only PBDB gives this; nothing contradicts it.Sources
Given by: Paleobiology Database. How it was chosen: PBDB leads.
- Known from
- Bones
Sources
Given by: Paleobiology Database (what the name was based on).
Gaps are answers
What isn't known yet
- Order: no source we use gives it yet.
- Family: no source we use gives it yet.
- Countries: no source we use gives it yet.
- Common names: no source we use gives it yet.
- What it was named after: no source we use gives it yet.
- Resting on one source: 4 facts come from a single source with nothing against them (rated medium): authority (PBDB); type species (PBDB); parent group (PBDB); age (headline) (PBDB).
Size, diet and behaviour aren't covered yet. Omnisaura leaves them out rather than guess.
Where sources disagree
None open. Where our sources overlap, they agree on everything shown here.
Did it meet…?
No. Chilesaurus had gone at least 59.5 million years before Tyrannosaurus appears in the fossil record.
Going by the ages and rock formations of their dated fossils, as on the map. Compare their fossil sites on the map.
Lived alongside
Genera found in the same rock formations, from rocks of the same age.
None in Omnisaura yet.
Same parent group
Other genera in Ornithischia with a full profile.
Credits
Where this page comes from
- Paleobiology DatabaseCC BY 4.0 · fossil records, ages, classification
- WikidataCC0 1.0 · names and identifiers
- OmnisauraOmnisaura editorial · confidence levels and gaps
- PaleoMAP PaleoCoastlines (Kocsis and Scotese 2021)CC BY 4.0 · ancient coastlines on the small map
- Natural EarthPublic domain · today's coastlines
Pictures linked from this page are credited beside each one, with their own licences; the full list is in the JSON download.