''Shingopana'' (meaning "wide neck" in Swahili) 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 ...

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 ...

ian

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

Upper 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 ...

(late

Campanian The Campanian is the fifth of six ages of the Late Cretaceous Epoch on the geologic timescale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). In chronostratigraphy, it is the fifth of six stages in the Upper Cretaceous Series. Campanian s ...

-early

Maastrichtian The Maastrichtian () is, in the ICS geologic timescale, the latest age (uppermost stage) of the Late Cretaceous Epoch or Upper Cretaceous Series, the Cretaceous Period or System, and of the Mesozoic Era or Erathem. It spanned the interval from ...

age)

Galula Formation The Galula Formation is a geological formation located south of Lake Rukwa in Tanzania, part of the Red Sandstone Group of the Rukwa Rift Basin. Along with the unconformably overlying Oligocene Nsungwe Formation. It is divided into two members, t ...

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...

. It is known from only 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 ...

, ''S. songwensis''. Gorscak & O'Connor's phylogenetic testing suggest ''Shingopana'' is more closely related to the South American titanosaur family of

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'', ...

than any of the titanosaurs found so far in North & South Africa.

Discovery and naming

Part of the

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several ...

, TZ-07, was discovered in 2002 by scientists affiliated with the Rukwa Rift Basin Project, which was run by Patrick O'Connor and Nancy Stevens. The rest of the skeleton was excavated during the following years. The holotype was mentioned in 2011 when the

Aeolosaurus ''Aeolosaurus'' (; "Aeolus' lizard") is a genus of titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Period of what is now South America. Like most sauropods, it would have been a quadrupedal herbivore with a long neck and tail. ''Aeolosau ...

maximus'' (now '' Arrudatitan maximus'') was named and described, and the species ''Shingopana songwensis'' was officially named in 2017.

Description

''Shingopana ''was a quadrupedal Aeolosaurin sauropod that would have reached up to long when fully grown, smaller than the average sauropod.

Skeleton

The holotype was damaged by insect bore holes shortly after the animal died. ''Shingopana'' is known from a partial jaw, represented by the angular bone. ''Shingopana'' is also known from four cervical vertebrae; with two of these vertebrae having preserved cervical ribs and another isolated cervical rib. ''Shingopana'' instead had remnants of a bulbous expansion on the incompletely preserved cervical vertebrae, which probably helped to strengthen its neck. Four ribs have been preserved with the holotype, but none are complete. The ribs had flanged edges, but their function is currently unknown. An almost complete humerus and a partial pubis were also present in the holotype.

Classification

''Shingopana'' has been classified within the Aeolosaurini as early as 2011, before the animal was given a name.

Palaeoecology

The holotype was discovered in the

of the Rukwa Rift Basin in Tanzania. It would have coexisted with the sauropods ''

Rukwatitan ''Rukwatitan'' is a genus of titanosaur sauropod dinosaur from the Galula Formation in Tanzania. It lived around 100 million years ago, during the middle Cretaceous. The species, which shared features with another southern African species, '' ...

'' and ''

Mnyamawamtuka ''Mnyamawamtuka'' (pronounced "Mm-nya-ma-wah-mm-too-ka" ; meaning "beast of the Mtuka river drainage" in Kiswahili) is a genus of lithostrotian titanosaur sauropod dinosaur from the Cretaceous Galula Formation in Tanzania. The type and only s ...

, ''the mesoeucrocodiles ''

Pakasuchus ''Pakasuchus'' is a genus of notosuchian crocodyliform distinguished by its unusual mammal-like appearance, including mammal-like teeth that would have given the animal the ability to chew. It also had long, slender legs and a doglike nose. ''Pak ...

'' and ''

Rukwasuchus ''Rukwasuchus'' is an extinct genus of peirosaurid mesoeucrocodylian known from the middle Cretaceous Galula Formation of southwestern Tanzania. It contains a single species, ''Rukwasuchus yajabalijekundu''. Discovery ''Rukwasuchus'' is known fr ...

'', the mammal ''

Galulatherium ''Galulatherium'' is an extinct genus of possibly gondwanathere mammal, from the Late Cretaceous (Turonian-Campanian)-aged Galula Formation of Tanzania.P. M. O'Connor, D. W. Krause, N. J. Stevens, J. R. Groenke, R. D. E. MacPhee, D. C. Kalthoff, ...

'', an unnamed

notosuchian Notosuchia is a suborder of primarily Gondwanan mesoeucrocodylian crocodylomorphs that lived during the Jurassic and Cretaceous. Some phylogenies recover Sebecosuchia as a clade within Notosuchia, others as a sister group (see below); if Sebecosu ...

, an unnamed

turtle Turtles are an order of reptiles known as Testudines, characterized by a special shell developed mainly from their ribs. Modern turtles are divided into two major groups, the Pleurodira (side necked turtles) and Cryptodira (hidden necked tu ...

, an unnamed

theropod Theropoda (; ), whose members are known as theropods, is a dinosaur clade that is characterized by hollow bones and three toes and claws on each limb. Theropods are generally classed as a group of saurischian dinosaurs. They were ancestrally c ...

and two types of

lungfish Lungfish are freshwater vertebrates belonging to the order Dipnoi. Lungfish are best known for retaining ancestral characteristics within the Osteichthyes, including the ability to breathe air, and ancestral structures within Sarcopterygii, i ...

('' Lupaceradotus'' and an unnamed genus).

References