''Rhoetosaurus'' (meaning "Rhoetos lizard"), named after

Rhoetus Rhoetus was a character mentioned by Ovid in Book V of his mock-epic ''Metamorphoses''. After Perseus rescues Andromeda (mythology), Andromeda from the sea monster, her betrothed Phineus (son of Belus), Phineus, brother of her father, attacks Per ...

, a

titan Titan most often refers to: * Titan (moon), the largest moon of Saturn * Titans, a race of deities in Greek mythology Titan or Titans may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional entities Fictional locations * Titan in fiction, fictiona ...

Greek mythology Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...

, is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

sauropod Sauropoda (), whose members are known as sauropods (; from '' sauro-'' + '' -pod'', 'lizard-footed'), is a clade of saurischian ('lizard-hipped') dinosaurs. Sauropods had very long necks, long tails, small heads (relative to the rest of their b ...

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic Geological period, period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the #Evolutio ...

from the

Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately 143.1 Mya. ...

( Oxfordian)

Walloon Coal Measures The Walloon Coal Measures are a Late Jurassic geologic subgroup in Queensland, Australia. Deposited within the Surat Basin, it is considered Oxfordian (stage), Oxfordian to early Tithonian in age based on Uranium–lead dating, lead-uranium datin ...

of what is now eastern

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. ''Rhoetosaurus'' is estimated to have been about long, weighing about .Paul, G.S., 2010, ''The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs'', Princeton University Press p. 173 Subsequent authors have sometimes misspelled the name: ''Rhaetosaurus'' (de Lapparent & Laverat, 1955); ''Rheteosaurus'' (Yadagiri, Prasad & Satsangi, 1979).

Discovery and species

In 1924, Heber Longman, self-trained paleontologist at (and later director of) the

Queensland Museum The Queensland Museum Kurilpa is the state museum of Queensland, funded by the government, and dedicated to natural history, cultural heritage, science and human achievement. The museum currently operates from its headquarters and general museu ...

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

, learned of a large fossil reptile skeleton exposed in the

at Durham Downs near

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: People, characters, figures, names * Roma or Romani people, an ethnic group living mostly in Europe and the Americas. * Roma called Roy, ancient Egyptian High Priest of Amun * Roma (footballer, born 1979), born ''Paul ...

in southern inland

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

. The station manager, Arthur Browne, forwarded fragments of bone to Longman, and was honoured with the dinosaur's specific name ''brownei''. The initial collection was of 22 tail vertebrae, including a series of 16 consecutive bones, and other fragmentary hindlimb pieces. Soon after Longman announced the new discovery, he visited the station and arranged for more material of the same skeleton to be sent to the Queensland Museum. These included additional vertebrae from the thoracic area, bits of rib, more caudals and more of the femur and pelvis as well as a cervical vertebra. Further material was collected by

Mary Wade Mary Wade (17 December 1775 – 17 December 1859) was a British teenager and convict who was transported to Australia when she was 13 years old. She was the youngest convict aboard , part of the Second Fleet. Her family grew to include five g ...

and Alan Bartholomai in 1975, and still more by Drs. Tom Rich, Anne Warren,

Zhao Xijin Zhao Xijin (赵喜进; born c. 1935 died July 21, 2012) was a Chinese paleontologist notable for having named numerous dinosaurs. He was a professor at Beijing's Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology. Biography Zhao Xijin was ...

, and

Ralph Molnar Ralph E. Molnar is a paleontologist who had been Curator of Mammals at the Queensland Museum and more recently associated with the Museum of Northern Arizona. He is also a research associate at the Texas Natural Science Centre. He co-authored descr ...

. By 2012, prepared material comprised 40 vertebrae, five partial thoracic ribs, part of the sacrum, fragments of the ilia, an ischium, the left and right pubic bones, and much of the right hind limb (femur, tibia, fibula, astragalus, and pes). More bones are yet to be removed from rock. ''Rhoetosaurus'' is among the best-known sauropods thus far discovered in

, as well as for the

Gondwana Gondwana ( ; ) was a large landmass, sometimes referred to as a supercontinent. The remnants of Gondwana make up around two-thirds of today's continental area, including South America, Africa, Antarctica, Australia (continent), Australia, Zea ...

Relationships

Initially Longman, with advice from leading German paleontologist

Friedrich von Huene Baron Friedrich Richard von Hoyningen-Huene (22 March 1875 – 4 April 1969) was a German nobleman paleontologist who described a large number of dinosaurs, more than anyone else in 20th-century Europe. He studied a range of Permo-Carbonife ...

, noted the primitive nature of ''Rhoetosaurus'', and so for a long time, it was called a cetiosaurid. More recently, others have compared it to ''

Shunosaurus ''Shunosaurus'', meaning "Lizard from Sichuan", is a genus of sauropod dinosaur from Late Jurassic ( Oxfordian) beds in Sichuan Province in China, from 161 to 157 Million years ago. The name derives from "Shu", an ancient name for the Sichuan pr ...

'', based on similar general age and several traits of its hind limbs. In a 2012 phylogenetic study, ''Rhoetosaurus'' was found to be a basal sauropod just outside of

Eusauropoda Eusauropoda (meaning "True Lizard Foot") is a derived clade of sauropod dinosaurs. Eusauropods represent the node-based group that includes all descendant sauropods starting with the basal eusauropods of '' Shunosaurus'', and possibly '' Barapas ...

, but the authors noted that support for its position was weak, and that its placement as a eusauropodan could not be rejected, but that it definitely was not a member of

Neosauropoda Neosauropoda is a clade within Dinosauria, coined in 1986 by Argentina, Argentine paleontologist José Bonaparte and currently described as ''Saltasaurus loricatus'', ''Diplodocus longus'', and all animals directly descended from their most recent ...

References

External links

''Rhoetosaurus''
{{Taxonbar, from=Q333524 Sauropoda Dinosaur genera Oxfordian dinosaurs Taxa named by Albert Heber Longman Fossil taxa described in 1926 Dinosaurs of Australia

Discovery and species

Relationships

References

Further reading

External links