Lohuecotitan
Lohuecotitan Upper | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Clade: | Dinosauria |
Clade: | Saurischia |
Clade: | †Sauropodomorpha |
Clade: | †Sauropoda |
Clade: | †Macronaria |
Clade: | †Titanosauria |
Clade: | †Lithostrotia |
Genus: | †Lohuecotitan Díez Díaz et al., 2016 |
Species: | †L. pandafilandi
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Binomial name | |
†Lohuecotitan pandafilandi Díez Díaz et al., 2016
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Lohuecotitan is an extinct
Discovery and naming
The fossil remains of Lohuecotitan were discovered in the site of
The name of Lohuecotitan combines a reference to the type locality with titan (which refers to the Greek
Description
Lohuecotitan was recognized by its describers as having a number of unique characteristics (
A number of the bones of Lohuecotitan were internally
Braincase
In 2013 Knoll and colleagues tentatively assigned to an unnamed species of Ampelosaurus, A. sp., a fossil braincase from Lo Hueco.[4] However, in 2019 Knoll et al. finally referred this braincase to Lohuecotitan.[5] This assignment is based on the fact that another braincase morphotype from Lo Hueco was found to be associated with a titanosaur skeleton distinct from Lohuecotitan and because none of the very abundant titanosaur postcranial remains of Lo Hueco belong to Ampelosaurus.[5][1][6] The braincase was found to share many features with A. atacis, such as a back of the skull that is flat. The braincase, MCCM-HUE-8741, is small in size overall, with a front-to-back length of 100.8 millimetres (3.97 in), and the maximum width of the left half being 64.3 millimetres (2.53 in). Parts of the bottom half of the braincase are missing. Even though section are missing, the specimen does not appear to have been deformed much, as the left and right halves are not very different.[7]
Two
Neuroanatomy
Compared with
Like in
The cerebral region of the brain is separated from the rest of the brain by a distinct compression caused in the endocranial cavity. The rearmost part of the cerebral region of the braincase has a top with a small expansion. This is different from Jainosaurus. However, relatively much larger expansions are known in the diplodocoid sauropods Dicraeosaurus and Diplodocus. In MCCM-HUE-8741, the small opening in the skull roof middle is responsible for a swelling on the endocast that is suggestive of a pineal system. It is in the exact position where the pineal gland is expected to have been, between the forebrain and the midbrain.[7]
The
Classification
Lohuecotitan was in 2016 recovered as a
See also
References
- ^ ..
- ^ hdl:10486/675918.
- PMID 26444700.
- PMID 23355905.
- ^ PMID 31763068.
- ^ Mocho, P.; Escaso, F.; Marcos-Fernández, F.; Páramo, A.; Vidal, D.; Ortega, F. (2023). "Exploring the presence of new titanosaurian taxa in the Campanian-Maastrichtian of the Iberian Peninsula". Book of Abstracts of the 20th Annual Conference of the European Association of Vertebrate Palaeontologists, 26th June – 1st July 2023. Palaeovertebrata, Special Volume. 1–23: 173.
- ^ PMID 23355905.