Australodocus

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Australodocus
Temporal range:
Ma
↓
Holotype cervical vertebra
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Clade: Saurischia
Clade: †Sauropodomorpha
Clade: †Sauropoda
Clade: †Macronaria
Clade: †
Titanosauriformes
Clade: †Somphospondyli
Genus: †Australodocus
Remes, 2007
Species:
†A. bohetii
Binomial name
†Australodocus bohetii
Remes, 2007

Australodocus (meaning "southern beam" from the

titanosauriform
.

Discovery and naming

The Upper Dinosaur Member, which is the layer of the Tendaguru Formation that the holotype was recovered from

The remains of Australodocus bohetii were recovered in 1909 from the Upper Dinosaur Member of the Tendaguru Formation of Tanzania, which has been a fertile ground for many Jurassic dinosaurs, including several genera of large sauropods, such as Giraffatitan, Wamweracaudia, Janenschia, Tendaguria, and Tornieria. Australodocus itself is based on two neck vertebrae, which are less elongate than those of other diplodocids and differ in other anatomical details. These vertebrae were originally part of a series of four vertebrae collected in the 1909 expedition led by Werner Janensch; like some other fossils collected by German expeditions to Africa, the other bones were destroyed in World War II. The 2007 description of the surviving bones increases the known diversity of sauropods and diplodocids in Tendaguru.[1]

The genus name is derived from the fact it was initially considered a southern (Gondwanan) relative of Diplodocus. The species name honors Boheti bin Amrani, a native crew supervisor and chief preparator who was an important contributor to the German expeditions that first excavated the Tanzanian sites.[1]

Systematics

Skeletal reconstruction of A. bohetii showing only the figured vertebrae and not including the destroyed vertebrae

Australodocus was originally described as a

euhelopodid.[5]

Size

Gregory S. Paul in 2010 estimated its length at about 17 metres (56 ft) and weight at just 4,000 kilograms (8,800 lb).[6]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Australodocus.
  1. ^
    S2CID 129739733
    .
  2. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2010.00665.x
    .
  3. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2011.07.001
    .
  4. ^ "A specimen-level phylogenetic analysis and taxonomic revision of Diplodocidae (Dinosauria, Sauropoda)". PeerJ. Retrieved 2015-12-07.
  5. ^ Philip D Mannion, Paul Upchurch, Daniela Schwarz, Oliver Wings, 2019, "Taxonomic affinities of the putative titanosaurs from the Late Jurassic Tendaguru Formation of Tanzania: phylogenetic and biogeographic implications for eusauropod dinosaur evolution", Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, zly068, https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zly068
  6. ^ Paul, G.S., 2010, The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs, Princeton University Press p. 189 - 190.
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