|
Colossosaurian
Colossosauria is a clade of titanosaur sauropods from the latest Early Cretaceous through the Late Cretaceous of South America. The group was originally named by Bernardo González-Riga ''et al.'' in 2019 and defined as the "most inclusive clade containing ''Mendozasaurus neguyelap'' but not ''Saltasaurus loricatus'' or ''Epachthosaurus sciuttoi''". The clade contains different taxa depending on the phylogenetic analysis used, in the defining paper the only subgroups were Rinconsauria and Lognkosauria, but alternate phylogenies published previously had also included various similar titanosaurs such as ''Aeolosaurus'', ''Bonitasaura'', ''Drusilasaura'', ''Overosaurus'' and ''Quetecsaurus''. The phylogenetic analysis of González-Riga ''et al.'' (2019) placed Colossosauria as sister taxa to '' Epachthosaurus'', ''Pitekunsaurus'' and a larger clade including Saltasauridae. Due to the labile position of ''Epachthosaurus'' in titanosaur phylogeny, Carballido and colleagues proposed a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cretaceous
The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of the entire Phanerozoic. The name is derived from the Latin ''creta'', " chalk", which is abundant in the latter half of the period. It is usually abbreviated K, for its German translation ''Kreide''. The Cretaceous was a period with a relatively warm climate, resulting in high eustatic sea levels that created numerous shallow inland seas. These oceans and seas were populated with now-extinct marine reptiles, ammonites, and rudists, while dinosaurs continued to dominate on land. The world was ice free, and forests extended to the poles. During this time, new groups of mammals and birds appeared. During the Early Cretaceous, flowering plants appeared and began to rapidly diversify, becoming the dominant group of plants across the Ear ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Early Cretaceous
The Early Cretaceous (geochronological name) or the Lower Cretaceous ( chronostratigraphic name), is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous. It is usually considered to stretch from 145 Ma to 100.5 Ma. Geology Proposals for the exact age of the Barremian-Aptian boundary ranged from 126 to 117 Ma until recently (as of 2019), but based on drillholes in Svalbard the defining early Aptian Oceanic Anoxic Event 1a (OAE1a) was carbon isotope dated to 123.1±0.3 Ma, limiting the possible range for the boundary to c. 122–121 Ma. There is a possible link between this anoxic event and a series of Early Cretaceous large igneous provinces (LIP). The Ontong Java- Manihiki- Hikurangi large igneous province, emplaced in the South Pacific at c. 120 Ma, is by far the largest LIP in Earth's history. The Ontong Java Plateau today covers an area of 1,860,000 km2. In the Indian Ocean another LIP began to form at c. 120 Ma, the Kergue ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tapuiasaurus
''Tapuiasaurus'' (meaning " Tapuia lizard") is a genus of titanosaur which lived during the Lower Cretaceous period (Aptian age) in what is now Minas Gerais, Brazil. Its fossils, including a partial skeleton with a nearly complete skull, have been recovered from the Quiricó Formation of the São Francisco Basin in Minas Gerais, eastern Brazil. This genus was named by Hussam Zaher, Diego Pol, Alberto B. Carvalho, Paulo M. Nascimento, Claudio Riccomini, Peter Larson, Rubén Juárez Valieri, Ricardo Pires Domingues, Nelson Jorge da Silva Jr. and Diógenes de Almeida Campos in 2011, and the type species is ''Tapuiasaurus macedoi''. Classification ''Tapuiasaurus'' was originally assigned to Nemegtosauridae by its original describers, but two subsequent cladistic analyses have recovered it as only distantly related to ''Nemegtosaurus'', with Wilson ''et al.'' (2016) recovering the genus outside the Lithostrotia, and Carballido ''et al.'' (2017) recovering it as closely relat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Malawisaurus
''Malawisaurus'' (meaning "Malawi lizard") is an extinct genus of titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur. It is known from the Dinosaur Beds of northern Malawi, which probably date to the Aptian stage of the Early Cretaceous. The type species is ''M. dixeyi'' and the specific name honours Frederick Augustus Dixey. Discovery and naming ''Malawisaurus dixeyi'' was originally described in 1928 by Sidney H. Haughton as a species of '' Gigantosaurus'' (an invalid name for the diplodocid currently known as '' Tornieria''). Haughton considered it closely related to the species ''G. robustus'' (later the type species of '' Janenschia''). The holotype was discovered in the " Dinosaur Beds" of Malawi (then known as the Nyasaland Protectorate), which are usually considered to be of Barremian-Aptian age based on K–Ar dating, though they have also been suggested to be Late Cretaceous in age based on the vertebrate assemblage, and possibly also the Lupata Group. In 1993 it was placed in the n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lithostrotia
Lithostrotia is a clade of derived titanosaur sauropods that lived during the Early Cretaceous and Late Cretaceous. The group was defined by Upchurch ''et al.'' in 2004 as the most recent common ancestor of '' Malawisaurus'' and '' Saltasaurus'' and all the descendants of that ancestor. Lithostrotia is derived from the Ancient Greek , meaning "inlaid with stones", referring to the fact that many known lithostrotians are preserved with osteoderms. However, osteoderms are not a distinguishing feature of the group, as the two noted by Unchurch ''et al.'' include caudal vertebrae with strongly concave front faces (procoely), although the farthest vertebrae are not procoelous. History of research In 1895, Richard Lydekker named the family Titanosauridae to summarize sauropods with procoelous (concave on the front) caudal vertebrae. The name Titanosauridae has since been widely used, and was defined by Salgado and colleagues (1997), Gonzalaz-Riga (2003), and Salgado (2003) as a node- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saltasauridae
Saltasauridae (named after the Salta region of Argentina where they were first found) is a family of armored herbivorous sauropods from the Upper Cretaceous. They are known from fossils found in South America, Asia, North America, and Europe. They are characterized by their vertebrae and feet, which are similar to those of '' Saltasaurus'', the first of the group to be discovered and the source of the name. The last and largest of the group and only one found in North America, ''Alamosaurus'', was in length and one of the last sauropods to go extinct. Most of the saltasaurids were smaller, around in length, and one, '' Rocasaurus'', was only long. Like all sauropods, the saltasaurids were quadrupeds, their necks and tails were held almost parallel to the ground, and their small heads had only tiny, peg-like teeth. They were herbivorous, stripping leaves off of plants and digesting them in their enormous guts. Although large animals, they were smaller than other sauropod ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pitekunsaurus
''Pitekunsaurus'' is a genus of titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Anacleto Formation of Neuquén, Argentina. It was described by L. Filippi and A. Garrido in 2008. The type species is ''P. macayai''. The generic name is derived from Mapudungun ''pitekun'', meaning "to discover", the epitheton honours the discoverer, oil company explorer Luis Macaya, who found the fossil in April 2004. Classification ''Pitekunsaurus'' appears to be a genus of aeolosaurid, most closely related to the genera ''Gondwanatitan'' and ''Aeolosaurus''. Its braincase closely resembles that of the aeolosaurid ''Muyelensaurus'' as well as the titanosaurs ''incertae sedis'' '' Vahiny'' and ''Jainosaurus''. It cannot be compared to the more closely related ''Aeolosaurus'' and ''Gondwanatitan ''Gondwanatitan'' (meaning "giant from Gondwana") was a titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur. ''Gondwanatitan'' was found in Brazil, at the time part of the southern supercontinent Gondwana, in t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Overosaurus
''Overosaurus'' (meaning "Overo lizard", after the Cerro Overo locality) is an extinct genus of sauropod dinosaurs, containing only a single species, ''Overosaurus paradasorum''. This species lived approximately 86 to 84 million years ago during the latter part of the Cretaceous Period in what is now Patagonia (in southern Argentina). ''Overosaurus paradasorum'' was relatively small compared to other sauropods from Patagonia, like the saltasaurids and other aeolosaurines, estimated as approximately . It was a ground-dwelling herbivore. Discovery and naming The only known specimen of ''Overosaurus paradasorum'' was recovered at the Cerro Overo locality in Patagonia, Argentina. The specimen was collected in 2002 by researchers from the Museo Carmen Funes, the Museo Argentino Urquiza, and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, in terrestrial sediments deposited during the Campanian stage of the Late Cretaceous period, approximately 84 to 78 million years ago. This spe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Drusilasaura
''Drusilasaura'' is an extinct genus of possible lognkosaurian titanosaur sauropod dinosaur which lived during the late Cretaceous ( Cenomanian-Turonian stage) of Santa Cruz Province of southern Patagonia, Argentina. ''Drusilasaura'' is known from the holotype MPM-PV 2097/1 to 2097/19, a partial skeleton including four dorsal vertebrae, a sacral vertebra, six caudal vertebrae, a left scapula, dorsal rib fragments and other fragments. It was found by palaeontologist Marcelo Tejedor searching fossil mammals, in layers of the Upper Member of the Bajo Barreal Formation, on the María Aike Ranch owned by the Ortiz de Zárate family. A team from the '' Laboratorio de Paleontología de Vertebrados'' of the ''Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia San Juan Bosco'' subsequently collected the remains.Navarrete, C.; Casal, G. & Martínez, R., (2008), "Nuevos materiales de Titanosauridae (Lognkosauria?) de la Formación Bajo Barreal, Cretácico Superior, Santa Cruz, Argentina". In: ''CO ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aeolosaurus
''Aeolosaurus'' (; "Aeolus' lizard") is a genus of titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Period of what is now South America. Like most sauropods, it would have been a quadrupedal herbivore with a long neck and tail. ''Aeolosaurus'' is well known for a titanosaur, as it is represented by the remains of several individuals belonging to at least two species. However, like most titanosaurs, no remains of the skull are known. The holotype of ''Aeolosaurus rionegrinus'' consists of a series of seven tail vertebrae, as well as parts of both forelimbs and the right hindlimb. It was discovered in the Angostura Colorada Formation in Argentina, which dates from the Campanian stage of the Late Cretaceous, about 83 to 74 million years ago. The species ''A. maximus'' was transferred over to the new genus '' Arrudatitan'' in 2021. Etymology This dinosaur is named after the Greek mythological figure Aeolus, Keeper of the Winds in Homer's Odyssey, because of the frequent wind ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Epachthosaurus Sciuttoi
''Epachthosaurus'' (meaning "heavy lizard") was a genus of titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous. It was a basal lithostrotian titanosaur. Its fossils have been found in Central and Northern Patagonia in South America. Discovery and naming The type species, ''E. sciuttoi'', was described by Powell in 1990. The bones assigned to it by Powell in 1990 were, originally, assigned to '' Antarctosaurus sp.'', and then to '' Argyrosaurus superbus?'', before being named as a new taxon. The holotype specimen is MACN-CH 1317, which consists of an incomplete posterior dorsal vertebra. Another specimen, the paratype MACN-CH 18689, consists of a cast of six articulated caudal vertebrae, the partial sacrum, and a fragmentary pubic peduncle from the right ilium. A nearly complete specimen referred to ''Epachthosaurus'', UNPSJB-PV 920, was recovered during field research conducted as part of the project ''Los vertebrados de la Formación Bajo Barreal, Provincia de Chubut ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saltasaurus Loricatus
''Saltasaurus'' (which means "lizard from Salta") is a genus of saltasaurid dinosaur of the Late Cretaceous period of Argentina. Small among sauropods, though still heavy by the standards of modern creatures, ''Saltasaurus'' was characterized by a short neck and stubby limbs. It was the first genus of sauropod known to possess armour of bony plates embedded in its skin. Such small bony plates, called osteoderms, have since been found on other titanosaurians. Discovery The fossils of ''Saltasaurus'' were excavated by José Bonaparte, Martín Vince and Juan C. Leal between 1975 and 1977 at the Estancia "El Brete". The find was in 1977 reported in the scientific literature. ''Saltasaurus'' was named and described by Bonaparte and Jaime E. Powell in 1980. The type species is ''Saltasaurus loricatus''. Its generic name is derived from Salta Province, the region of north-west Argentina where the first fossils were recovered. The specific name means "protected by small armour ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
