''Astrophocaudia'' (meaning "non-twisting tail"; alternately "star tail" in reference to '' Astrodon'') 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 ...

of somphospondylan

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 ...

known from the late

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 ...

( Albian stage) of

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, United States. Its remains were discovered in the

Trinity Group The Trinity Group is a group (sequence of rock strata) in the Lower Cretaceous lithostratigraphy of Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana and Oklahoma. It is named for the Trinity River of Texas. A stratigraphic column at the Mount Bonnell Fau ...

. 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 ''Astrophocaudia slaughteri'', described in 2012 by Michael D. D’Emic while a doctoral student at the Museum of Paleontology of the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

, USA.

Discovery and naming

In 1969, Maria A. Marques-Bilelo reported the holotype from the

. In 1974,

Wann Langston Jr. Wann Langston Jr. (1921 – April 7, 2013) was an American paleontologist and professor at the University of Texas at Austin. Langston worked on a number of different reptiles and amphibians in his long career, beginning with the 1950 description ...

referred the fossil to ''Pleurocoelus'' (now considered a junior synonym of '' Astrodon'') as a ''Pleurocoelus'' sp. In 2012, Michael D'Emic renamed ''Pleurocoelus'' sp. as ''Astrophocaudia slaughteri'' in his redescription of the Trinity Group sauropods. The holotype is a partial skeleton including a tooth, two neck vertebrae, fragments of back vertebrae, 24 tail vertebrae, approximately 20 fragmentary ribs, two chevrons, and a piece of shoulder blade.

References

Early Cretaceous dinosaurs of North America Fossil taxa described in 2012 Macronarians Paleontology in Texas {{Sauropodomorph-stub