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Maxakalisaurus Topai
''Maxakalisaurus'' is a genus of titanosaur dinosaur, found in the Adamantina Formation of Brazil, in the state of Minas Gerais in 1998. The genus name is derived from the tribe of the Maxakali; Topa is one of their divinities.Kellner, A.W.A., Campos, D.A., Azevedo, S.A.K., Trotta, M.N.F., Henriques, D.D.R., Craik, M.M.T., and Silva, H.P. (2006).On a new titanosaur sauropod from the Bauru Group, Late Cretaceous of Brazil." ''Boletim do Museu Nacional (Geologia)'', 74: 1-31. Description The type specimen of ''Maxakalisaurus'' belonged to an animal about long, with an estimated weight of . It had a long neck and tail, ridged teeth (unusual among sauropods) and lived about 80 million years ago. Because sauropods seem to have lacked significant competition in South America, they evolved there with greater diversity and more unusual traits than elsewhere in the world. Like the fellow titanosaur ''Saltasaurus'', ''Maxakalisaurus'' had defensive osteoderms; one has been found on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Late Cretaceous
The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''creta'', the Latin word for the white limestone known as chalk. The chalk of northern France and the white cliffs of south-eastern England date from the Cretaceous Period. Climate During the Late Cretaceous, the climate was warmer than present, although throughout the period a cooling trend is evident. The tropics became restricted to equatorial regions and northern latitudes experienced markedly more seasonal climatic conditions. Geography Due to plate tectonics, the Americas were gradually moving westward, causing the Atlantic Ocean to expand. The Western Interior Seaway divided North America into eastern and western halves; Appalachia and Laramidia. India maintained a northward course towards Asia. In the Southern Hemisphere, Australia and Ant ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aeolosaurini
Aeolosaurini is an extinct clade of titanosaurian dinosaurs known from the Cretaceous period of Argentina and Brazil. Rodrigo M. Santucci and Antonio C. de Arruda-Campos (2011) in their cladistic analysis found ''Aeolosaurus'', ''Gondwanatitan'', '' Maxakalisaurus'', '' Panamericansaurus'' and '' Rinconsaurus'' to be aeolosaurids. Aeolosaurini is characterized by several synapomorphies of the caudal vertebrae, such as angled centra, elongate prezygapophyses, and neural arches shifted anteriorly relative to the centra. In life, their tails may have been strongly curved downward as a result of these traits, which may have increased the force exerted by the caudofemoralis longus muscle in retracting the hindlimb. Some aeolosaurins, such as ''Shingopana'' and ''Overosaurus'', were relatively small compared to other titanosaurs, whereas others, such as ''Aeolosaurus maximus'', were large. Phylogeny Aeolosaurini was defined by Franco-Rosas, Salgado, Rosas and Carvalho (2004) as the ste ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alamosaurus
''Alamosaurus'' (; meaning "Ojo Alamo lizard") is a genus of opisthocoelicaudiine titanosaurian sauropod dinosaurs, containing a single known species, ''Alamosaurus sanjuanensis'', from the late Cretaceous Period of what is now southern North America. Isolated vertebrae and limb bones indicate that it reached sizes comparable to ''Argentinosaurus'' and ''Puertasaurus'', which would make it the largest dinosaur known from North America. Its fossils have been recovered from a variety of rock formations spanning the Maastrichtian age of the late Cretaceous period. Specimens of a juvenile ''Alamosaurus sanjuanensis'' have been recovered from only a few meters below the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary in Texas, making it among the last surviving non-avian dinosaur species. Description ''Alamosaurus'' was a gigantic quadrupedal herbivore with a long neck and tail and relatively long limbs. Its body was at least partly covered in bony armor. In 2012 Thomas Holtz gave a total length of ... [...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 sauropods of th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Isisaurus
''Isisaurus'' (named after the Indian Statistical Institute) is a genus of titanosaurian dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Lameta Formation of India. The genus contains a single species, ''Isisaurus colberti''. Discovery and Naming The type specimen of ''Isisaurus colberti'', ISI R 335/1-65, was originally described and named as ''Titanosaurus colberti'' by Sohan Lal Jain and Saswati Bandyopadhyay in 1997. The specific name honours Edwin Harris Colbert. In 2003, the fossils were designated as belonging to its own genus by Wilson and Upchurch. The generic name, "''Isisaurus''," combines a reference to the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) with the Greek "saurus," meaning "lizard." It had a short, vertically directed neck and long forelimbs, making it considerably different from other sauropods. The humerus is 148 centimetres long. ''Isisaurus'' is known from better remains than many other titanosaurs that were known at the time of its description. Much of its postcranial ske ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Baurutitan
''Baurutitan'' is a genus of sauropod dinosaur that lived during the Late Cretaceous in what is now Brazil. The type species, ''Baurutitan britoi'', was described in 2005 by Kellner and colleagues, although the fossil remains had already been discovered in 1957. ''Baurutitan'' is classified as a lithostrotian titanosaur, and is distinguished from related genera based on its distinctive caudal vertebrae. This South American dinosaur was found in the Serra da Galga Formation near Uberaba, in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. Discovery The holotype of ''Baurutitan'' were found in 1957 by Llewellyn Ivor Price, the famous Brazilian paleontologist, in the region of Peirópolis, Minas Gerais. However, it was not until 2005 that ''Baurutitan'' was officially published and named. The works of Price in Peirópolis began in 1947 after Jesuíno Felicíssimo Junior, from the Instituto Geográfico e Geológico of São Paulo, told him about the presence of fossils in the region. Price then ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Diamantinasaurus
''Diamantinasaurus'' is a genus of titanosaurian sauropod from Australia that lived during the early Late Cretaceous, about 94 million years ago. The type species of the genus is ''D. matildae'', first described and named in 2009 in paleontology, 2009 by Scott Hocknull and colleagues based on fossil finds in the Winton Formation. Meaning "Diamantina lizard", the name is derived from the location of the nearby Diamantina River and the Ancient Greek, Greek word ''sauros'', "lizard". The specific epithet is from the Australian song Waltzing Matilda, also the locality of the holotype and paratype. The known skeleton includes most of the forelimb, pectoral girdle, shoulder girdle, pelvis, hindlimb and ribs of the holotype, and one shoulder bone, a radius bone, radius and some vertebrae of the paratype. History of discovery The holotype of ''Diamantinasaurus'' was first uncovered over four seasons of excavations near Winton, Queensland, Australia. The bones were found alongside the h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saltasauroidea
Saltasauroidea is a superfamily of titanosaurs named by França and colleagues in 2016 based on their phylogenetic results, for a clade uniting Aeolosaurini and Saltasauridae, as well as the intermediate genera ''Baurutitan'', ''Diamantinasaurus'' and ''Isisaurus''. The group was not defined or discussed in the text, but was supported by Carballido and colleagues in 2022 as a useful designation for subdividing titanosaurs. As there was no discussion about the intentions for the clade, Carballido gave it the definition of all taxa closer to ''Saltasaurus'' than ''Patagotitan'', encompassing half of Eutitanosauria as the sister taxon to the inversely defined Colossosauria. Carballido ''et al.'' placed Nemegtosauridae Nemegtosauridae is a Scientific classification, family of titanosaurian sauropod dinosaurs based on their diplodocidae, diplodocid-like skulls. Only three species are known: ''Nemegtosaurus'', ''Quaesitosaurus'' and possibly ''Tapuiasaurus'', each ... and Saltasauridae ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rapetosaurus
''Rapetosaurus'' ( ) is a genus of titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur that lived in Madagascar from 70 to 66 million years ago, at the end of the Cretaceous Period. Only one species, ''Rapetosaurus krausei'', has been identified. Like other sauropods, ''Rapetosaurus'' was a quadrupedal herbivore; it is calculated to have reached lengths of 15 metres (49 ft). Description ''Rapetosaurus'' was a fairly typical sauropod, with a short and slender tail, a very long neck and a huge, elephant-like body. Its head resembles the head of a diplodocid, with a long, narrow snout and nostrils on the top of its skull. It was a herbivore and its small, pencil-like teeth were good for ripping the leaves off trees but not for chewing. It was fairly modest in size, for a titanosaur. The juvenile specimen measured from head to tail, and "probably weighed about as much as an elephant". An adult would have been about twice as long ( in length) which is still less than half the length of its ... [...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 relate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nemegtosaurus
''Nemegtosaurus'' (meaning 'Reptile from the Nemegt') was a sauropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Period of what is now Mongolia. It was named after the Nemegt Basin in the Gobi Desert, where the remains — a single skull — were found. The skull resembles diplodocoids in being long and low, with pencil-shaped teeth. However, recent work has shown that ''Nemegtosaurus'' is in fact a titanosaur, closely related to animals such as ''Saltasaurus'', ''Alamosaurus'' and ''Rapetosaurus''. Discovery and taxonomy The skull of ''Nemegtosaurus'' comes from the same beds as the titanosaur ''Opisthocoelicaudia'', which is known from a skeleton lacking the neck and skull. Originally, the referral of ''Nemegtosaurus'' to Diplodocoidea and ''Opisthocoelicaudia'' to Camarasauridae argued that the two represented different species. Both of these genera represent advanced titanosaurians, however, raising the possibility that the two are in fact the same animal. Relocation of the ''Nemegtosa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nemegtosauridae
Nemegtosauridae is a Scientific classification, family of titanosaurian sauropod dinosaurs based on their diplodocidae, diplodocid-like skulls. Only three species are known: ''Nemegtosaurus'', ''Quaesitosaurus'' and possibly ''Tapuiasaurus'', each from the Cretaceous. History of classification Due to the diplodocid-like nature of the taxa placed in Nemegtosauridae, the systematic position of this family in Sauropoda was disputed until recently. McIntosh (1990) included both these animals in the family Diplodocidae, subfamily Dicraeosauridae, Dicraeosaurinae, as they resemble the skull of ''Dicraeosaurus'', although differing in certain details. Although the skull of ''Nemegtosaurus'' was found in the same formation as the headless skeleton of ''Opisthocoelicaudia'', McIntosh (1990) kept ''Nemegtosaurus'' in Diplodocoidea while keeping ''Opisthocoelicaudia'' separate from the former, a position reiterated by Upchurch (1995, 1999), and Upchurch et al. (2004). A cladistics, cladisti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
