Laplatasaurus

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Laplatasaurus
Temporal range:
Ma
Tibia & fibula of Laplatasaurus. Scale bar equals 10cm.
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Clade: Saurischia
Clade: †Sauropodomorpha
Clade: †Sauropoda
Clade: †Macronaria
Clade: †Titanosauria
Genus: †Laplatasaurus
von Huene, 1929
Type species
†Laplatasaurus araukanicus
von Huene, 1929
Synonyms
  • Laplatasaurus wichmannianus von Huene, 1929
  • Titanosaurus araukanicus
    von Huene, 1929 vide Powell, 1992

Laplatasaurus (meaning "La Plata lizard", named for

sauropod dinosaur that lived during the Late Cretaceous in South America, with the holotype and only known specimen found in the Anacleto Formation
.

Naming and description

The genus was named in 1927 by

lectotype, a specimen consisting of a tibia and a fibula
that perhaps originate from different individuals.

Huene assigned those fossils to Laplatasaurus that seemed to indicate a rather large yet at the same time elegantly built sauropod. The about eighteen metres (60 ft) long Laplatasaurus was perhaps similar to

Osteoderms
forming an armored plating on the back, have been referred to Laplatasaurus but the association is uncertain. These plates had much smaller ridges than those of Saltasaurus.

A Megaloolithus egg found in the Anacleto Formation in Auca Mahuevo, Argentina[5] that was once assigned to Titanosaurus may have instead been laid by Laplatasaurus.

Taxonomy

Huene placed Laplatasaurus in the

Jaime Eduardo Powell assigned Laplatasaurus to Titanosaurus, creating the new combination Titanosaurus aurakanicus.[6] Others however, continued to treat Laplatasaurus as valid genus separate from Titanosaurus.[7][8][9]

A 2015 re-assessment of Laplatasaurus found it to be closely related to Bonitasaura, Futalognkosaurus, Mendozasaurus, and Uberabatitan. The genus was restricted to the lectotype, and the material from Rancho de Avila was assigned to cf. Bonitasaura sp.[4]

References

  1. ^ Huene, F. von, 1927, "Sichtung der Grundlagen der Jetzigen Kenntnis der Sauropoden", Eclogae geologicae Helvetiae, 20: 444-470
  2. ^ Huene, F. von, 1929, Los Saurisquios y Ornithisquios de Cretaceo Argentino, Anales Museo de La Plata, 2nd series, v. 3, p. 1-196
  3. ^ Huene, F. von, and Mately C. A., 1933, "The Cretaceous Saurischia and Ornithischia of the central provinces of India", Palaeontologia Indica, 21: 1-74
  4. ^
    S2CID 131595654
    .
  5. ^ Megaloolithus at Fossilworks.org
  6. ^ Powell, J. E., 2003, "Revision of South American titanosaurid dinosaurs: palaeobiological, palaeobiogeographical and phylogenetic aspects", Records of the Queen Victoria Museum 111: 1-173
  7. S2CID 53997295
    .
  8. ISBN 0-520-24209-2
    , S. 259–322.
  9. ^ Salgado, L. & Coria, R. A. 2005. Sauropods of Patagonia: Systematic update and notes on Global Sauropod evolution. In. Thunder-Lizards. The Sauropodomorph Dinosaurs. Ed. V. Tidwell & K. Carpenter. Indiana University Press. Bloomington and Indianapolis. Indiana University Press430-453.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Laplatasaurus&oldid=1220729345"