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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] |
Opisthocoelicaudia
''Opisthocoelicaudia'' is a genus of sauropod dinosaur of the late Cretaceous, Late Cretaceous Period discovered in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia. The type species is ''Opisthocoelicaudia skarzynskii''. A well-preserved skeleton lacking only the head and neck was unearthed in 1965 by Polish and Mongolian scientists, making ''Opisthocoelicaudia'' one of the best known sauropods from the Late Cretaceous. Tooth marks on this skeleton indicate that large carnivorous dinosaurs had fed on the wikt:carcass, carcass and possibly had carried away the now-missing parts. To date, only two additional, much less complete specimens are known, including part of a pectoral girdle, shoulder and a fragmentary tail. A relatively small sauropod, ''Opisthocoelicaudia'' measured about in length. Like other sauropods, it would have been characterised by a small head sitting on a very long neck and a barrel shaped trunk carried by four column-like legs. The name ''Opisthocoelicaudia'' means "posterior ca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nemegtosaurus Skull Reconstruction
''Nemegtosaurus'' (meaning 'Reptile from the Nemegt') was a sauropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Period (geology), 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 ... [...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] |
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 thriving at the time of the extinction event at the end of the Cretaceous. This group includes some of the largest land animals known to have ever existed, such as ''Patagotitan''—estimated at long with a weight of —and the comparably-sized ''Argentinosaurus'' and ''Puertasaurus'' from the same region. The group's name alludes to the mythological Titans of ancient Greek mythology, via the type genus (now considered a '' nomen dubium)'' ''Titanosaurus''. Together with the brachiosaurids and relatives, titanosaurs make up the larger sauropod clade Titanosauriformes. Titanosaurs have long been a poorly-known group, and the relationships between titanosaur species are still not well-understood. Description Titanosauria have the largest ... [...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] |
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-based ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Muyelensaurus
''Muyelensaurus'' (meaning "Muyelen lizard", after an indigenous name for the Colorado River in Argentina) is a genus of titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Argentina. It was more slender than other titanosaurs. Fossils have been recovered from the Plottier Formation in the Neuquén province of Patagonia. The type species is ''M. pecheni''.''Muyelensaurus'' at .org The name ''Muyelensaurus'' first appeared in a 2007 paper by |
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] |
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] |
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 newly na ... [...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] |
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] |
