Ruyangosaurus
Ruyangosaurus Temporal range: Early Cretaceous,
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Skeleton | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Clade: | Dinosauria |
Clade: | Saurischia |
Clade: | †Sauropodomorpha |
Clade: | †Sauropoda |
Clade: | †Macronaria |
Clade: | †Titanosauria |
Genus: | †Ruyangosaurus Lu et al., 2009 |
Type species | |
†Ruyangosaurus giganteus Lü et al., 2009
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Ruyangosaurus (
Description
Along with Huanghetitan and Daxiatitan, Ruyangosaurus is among the largest dinosaurs discovered in Cretaceous Asia. In 2016 Gregory S. Paul gave a length of 30 meters (98 ft) and a weight of 50+ tonnes (55 short tons) - making it a 'mega-sauropod'.[2] According to another estimate, Ruyangosaurus was probably about 35 meters (115 ft) long, as evidenced by its 207 cm long femur and 127 cm long right tibia.[3] In 2020 Molina-Perez and Larramendi gave a lower estimation of 24.8 meters (81.4 ft) and 34 tonnes (37.5 short tons).[4]
Classification
The describers of Ruyangosaurus assigned it to
Comprehensive phylogenetic analyses of Titanosauriformes conducted by Philip Mannion and colleagues in 2013 found Ruyangosaurus to be in a polytomy with Andesaurus and other basal titanosaurs and near-titanosaur somphospondyls, supporting the original description's assertion of phylogenetic proximity of it and Andesaurus, though not the precise taxonomic assignment, with further modifications of the dataset resolving similar conclusions.[6][7][8] However, not all phylogenetic analyses have supported its position as a somphospondyl. A phylogenetic dataset following the description of additional material for Ruyangosaurus to be a non-titanosauriform macronarian, closely related to Yunmenglong.[9]
The phylogenetic analysis of Mannion et al. in 2019 incorporated these updated discoveries into their earlier analysis, along with additional new knowledge for other mid-Cretaceous Asian taxa considered close to Titanosauria. They found Ruyangosaurus to either be close to Andesaurus as a basal titanosaur when all characters were considered equally important, or in a large clade of early titanosaurs potentially given the name
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Habitat
Ruyangosaurus shared its habitat with Xianshanosaurus, "Huanghetitan" ruyangensis, Yunmenglong, Luoyanggia, and Zhongyuansaurus. The horizon of Ruyangosaurus was originally described as being of "early Late Cretaceous" age,[1] but recent work has assigned it an Aptian-Albian Age based on fieldwork and analysis of invertebrate and microfossil assemblages.[11]
See also
- List of dinosaurs
- 2009 in paleontology
References
- ^ a b c Lü, J; Xu, L; Jia, S; Zhang, X; Zhang, J; Yang, L; You, H; Ji, Q (2009). "A new gigantic sauropod dinosaur from the Cretaceous of Ruyang, Henan, China". Geological Bulletin of China. 28 (1): 1–10.
- ISBN 9780691167664.
- ^ Jinyou Mo, Jincheng Li, Yunchuan Ling, Eric Buffetaut, Suravech Suteethorn Varavud, Suteethorne Haiyan Tong, Gilles Cuny, Romain Amiot & Xing Xu (2020). New fossil remain of Fusuisaurus zhaoi (Sauropoda: Titanosauriformes) from the Lower Cretaceous of Guangxi, southern China. Cretaceous Research: 104379 (advance online publication). doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2020.104379
- Bibcode:2020dffs.book.....M.
- .
- .
- PMID 28480136.
- PMID 29085006.
- ISBN 978-7-116-09074-3.
- PMID 31598266.
- ^ Xu, L., Pan, Z.C., Wang, Z.H., Zhang, X.L., Jia, S.H., Lü, J.C., Jiang, B.L., 2012. Discovery and significance of the Cretaceous system in Ruyang Basin, Henan Province. Geological Review 58, 601-613.