Ligabuesaurus

Ligabuesaurus is a genus of somphospondylan sauropod from the Early Cretaceous Lohan Cura Formation of what is now Argentina. The type species, Ligabuesaurus leanzai, was described in 2006, based on a partial skeleton with a skull. The generic name, Ligabuesaurus, honors Giancarlo Ligabue, while the specific name, leanzai, honors the geologist Dr. Héctor A. Leanza, who discovered the skeleton in the Lohan Cura Formation.

==Discovery and naming== The prominent Argentine paleontologist José F. Bonaparte led expeditions throughout northwestern Patagonia during the late 1990s and early 2000s. One of these expeditions, in 1997, examined a site called Cerro de los Leones, which is to the West of Picún Leufú. This locality is part of the Cullín Grande Member of the Lohan Cura formation. This expedition led to the excavation of the enigmatic and controversial sauropod genus Agustinia. Additional remains of sauropods were found at a nearby quarry by the geologist Dr. Héctor Leanza and were collected between 1998 and 2000. One of these additional skeletons would eventually be prepared and stored at the Bernardino Rivadavia Natural Sciences Argentine Museum in Buenos Aires.