Review and images by bmathison1972; edited by Suspsy
Ampelosaurus atacis is a titanosaur described in 1995 from fossils from the Late Cretaceous (Early Maastrichtian) of present day France. Interestingly, in 2012 morphometric studies of titanosaur fossils from the area showed the presence of a second, currently undescribed species of titanosaur, bringing into question historic reconstructions of the animal (a little more on that later in the review).
Meet Lans, the little Ampelosaurus from PNSO. He measures about 9.5 cm long, although he’d be longer if his tail were held out straight behind him instead of curling fluidly to the left.
Confession time. I like ugly sauropods. In fact, my favorite sauropod is widely regarded as one of the ugliest, Camarasaurus. And I’m one of the few collectors that likes the Schleich Barapasaurus, which I reviewed for the blog upon its release. Most folks like their sauropods elegant and graceful, and so do I, but I also like the big ugly bruisers, the kind that know how to throw their bulk around and smash a theropod or two.
