Pronunciation: AT-luh-SOR-us
Meaning: Atlas lizard
Author/s: Monbaron, Russell and Taquet (1999)
Synonyms: None known
First Discovery: Azilal Province, Morocco
Discovery Chart Position: #446
Atlasaurus imelakei
(Giant Atlas Lizard)Etymology
Atlasaurus is derived from "Atlas" (the Morrocan mountain chain where the Greek Titan Atlas shouldered the Heavens, which is always depicted as a globe) and the Greek "sauros" (lizard). Atlas the Titan was a huge, and so was Atlasaurus, which is why the authors chose the species epithet imelakei (ee-me-LAH-kay-ie), from the Arabic "Imelake" which means "Giant".
Discovery
The remains of Atlasaurus were discovered in the Guettioua Formation (Tiougguit Basin) in the High Atlas range of the Atlas Mountains, Wawmda, Azilal Province, Tadla-Azilal region, Morocco, in 1981.
The holotype (Musée des sciences de la Terre de Rabat, Morocco) is a nearly complete skeleton. A second specimen, represented by a near-complete tail, was discovered in Morocco then sent to Utah to be pieced back together after 300 hours of preparation. It was eventually transported to Mexico and put on display in the lobby of the BBVA Bancomer tower in Mexico City until it was auctioned off to an anonymous businessman in January 2018 to help finance the reconstruction of schools destroyed during the 2017 Puebla earthquake.
