''Tengrisaurus'' (meaning "

Tengri Tengri ( zh, 騰格里; otk, 𐰚𐰇𐰚:𐱅𐰭𐰼𐰃, Kök Teŋri/Teŋiri, lit=Blue Heaven; Old Uyghur: ''tängri''; Middle Turkic: تآنغرِ; ky, теңир; tr, Tanrı; az, Tanrı; bg, Тангра; Proto-Turkic *''teŋri / * ...

lizard") is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

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'' an ...

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 bo ...

, from the

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 Pro ...

(

Barremian The Barremian is an age in the geologic timescale (or a chronostratigraphic stage) between 129.4 ± 1.5 Ma (million years ago) and 121.4 ± 1.0 Ma). It is a subdivision of the Early Cretaceous Epoch (or Lower Cretaceous Series). It is preceded ...

Aptian The Aptian is an age in the geologic timescale or a stage in the stratigraphic column. It is a subdivision of the Early or Lower Cretaceous Epoch or Series and encompasses the time from 121.4 ± 1.0 Ma to 113.0 ± 1.0 Ma (million years ago), a ...

)

Murtoi Formation The Murtoi Formation is a geologic formation in vicinity of Lake Gusinoye in Russia. It was deposited in the late Barremian to the mid Aptian of the Early Cretaceous. Paleofauna *'' Kirgizemys dmitrievi'' *'' Tengrisaurus starkovi'' *'' Khurendu ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. It was described in 2017 by Averianov & Skutschas. The

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...

is ''T. starkovi''. New remains were described in 2021 by Averianov, Sizov & Skutschas.

Description

''Tengrisaurus starkovi'' is based on three caudal vertebrae. The genus is characterized by strongly procoelous anterior and middle caudal vertebrae, with strongly developed pre-epipophyses, highly pneumatic neural spine, and solid bone structure of the centrum.

Classification

Amerianov and Efimov (2018) recovered ''Tengrisaurus'' as a

titanosaur Titanosaurs (or titanosaurians; members of the group Titanosauria) were a diverse group of sauropod dinosaurs, including genera from all seven continents. The titanosaurs were the last surviving group of long-necked sauropods, with taxa still th ...

. They found Lithostrotia to be divided into two main lineages, one containing

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. Th ...

, the other containing

Lognkosauria Lognkosauria is a clade of giant long-necked sauropod dinosaurs within the clade Titanosauria. It includes some of the largest and heaviest dinosaurs known. Description Lognkosaurians can be distinguished from other titanosaurs by the wide and u ...

, with ''Tengrisaurus'' belonging to the former. The following cladogram follows their analysis.

References

Titanosaurs Aptian life Barremian life Late Cretaceous dinosaurs of Asia Cretaceous Russia Fossils of Russia Fossil taxa described in 2017 {{sauropodomorph-stub