Huanghetitan

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Huanghetitan
Temporal range: Early Cretaceous, Aptian–Albian
Huanghetitan NMNS.jpg
Reconstructed skeletons of Huanghetitan liujiaxiaensis and Daxiatitan binglingi (background).
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Clade: Saurischia
Clade: Sauropodomorpha
Clade: Sauropoda
Clade: Macronaria
Clade: Camarasauromorpha
Clade: Titanosauriformes
Genus: Huanghetitan
You et al., 2006
Type species
Huanghetitan liujiaxiaensis
You et al., 2006
Other species
  • H. ruyangensis
    et al., 2007

Huanghetitan (meaning "Yellow River titan"), is a genus of sauropod dinosaur from the early Cretaceous Period. It was a basal titanosauriform which lived in what is now Gansu, China.

Contents

History

Hind view of skeleton, Henan Geological Museum Huanghetitan ruyangensis.jpg
Hind view of skeleton, Henan Geological Museum

The type species, Huanghetitan liujiaxiaensis, was described by You et al. in 2006. It is known from fragmentary materials including two caudal vertebrae, an almost complete sacrum, rib fragments, and the left shoulder girdle, and was discovered in the eastern part of the Lanzhou Basin (Hekou Group) in the Gansu Province in 2004. [1]

A second species, H. ruyangensis, was described in 2007 from the Aptian-Albian Haoling Formation of Ruyang County, China (Henan Province). A recent cladistic analysis has found that this species is unlikely to be closely related to H. liujiaxiaensis and requires a new genus name. [2]

Size

It is known from a partial vertebral column and several ribs, the size of which (the largest approaches 3 m (10 ft)) indicate it had among the deepest body cavities of any known dinosaur. [3] This second species, along with its local relatives Daxiatitan and Ruyangosaurus , is one of the biggest dinosaurs ever found in Asia, and possibly one of the largest in the world. [4] In 2019 Gregory S. Paul suggested that the dorsal rib of Huanghetitan ruyangensis is about the same length as Patagotitan's, and its sacrum may be similar in length, possibly suggesting a similar mass range of 45–55 tonnes (49.6–60.6 short tons). [5]

In 2007, Lü Junchang et al. created a new family for Huanghetitan, the Huangetitanidae, but this family found to be polyphyletic by Mannion et al. [3] [2]

The following is a cladogram from Averianov et al., 2017, [6] based on the work of Mannion et al., showing Huanghetitan as a paraphyletic genus with "H." ruyangensis being closer to Titanosauria:

Somphospondyli

Dongbeititan

Liubangosaurus

Pelorosaurus Pelorosaurus2.jpg

Euhelopodidae EuhelopusDB2.jpg

Astrophocaudia

Brontomerus Brontomerus.jpg

Chubutisaurus

Angolatitan

Tastavinsaurus Tastavinsaurus BW.jpg

Malarguesaurus

Paluxysaurus

Sauroposeidon Sauroposeidon proteles.jpg

Clovery Titanosauriform (YPM 5449)

Fukuititan

Ligabuesaurus

Sibirotitan

Ruyangosaurus

Wintonotitan Wintonotitan.png

Huanghetitan

Huanghetitan ruyangensis

Titanosauria

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<i>Euhelopus</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

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<i>Asiatosaurus</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

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<i>Huabeisaurus</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Huabeisaurus was a genus of dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous. It was a sauropod which lived in what is present-day northern China. The type species, Huabeisaurus allocotus, was first described by Pang Qiqing and Cheng Zhengwu in 2000. Huabeisaurus is known from numerous remains found in the 1990s, which include teeth, partial limbs and vertebrae. Due to its relative completeness, Huabeisaurus represents a significant taxon for understanding sauropod evolution in Asia. Huabeisaurus comes from Kangdailiang and Houyu, Zhaojiagou Town, Tianzhen County, Shanxi province, China. The holotype was found in the unnamed upper member of the Huiquanpu Formation, which is Late Cretaceous (?Cenomanian–?Campanian) in age based on ostracods, charophytes, and fission-track dating.

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<i>Mongolosaurus</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

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<i>Jiangshanosaurus</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

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Fusuisaurus is a genus of sauropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of China. Fragmentary postcranial remains of this animal have been discovered in 2001 in the Napai Formation of Guangxi, China and consist of the left ilium, left pubis, anterior caudals, most of the dorsal ribs and distal end of the left femur. This sauropod has been described as a basal titanosauriform.

Brohisaurus is a genus of titanosauriform sauropod dinosaur from the Late Jurassic, based on largely indeterminate fragments of some ribs, vertebrae, and limb bones. The type and only species, B. kirthari, was described by M. Sadiq Malkani in 2003 and it is currently the only valid genus of dinosaur known from Pakistan to date. The genus name means "Baluchi lizard" and refers to the Baluchi people who live in the area where it was found. The species name refers to the Kirthar Mountains. The fossils were discovered in the lowest portion of the Kimmeridgian Sembar Formation from the Kirthar foldbelt in Pakistan.

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<i>Daxiatitan</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Daxiatitan is a genus of sauropod dinosaur known from the Lower Cretaceous of Gansu, China. Its type and only species is Daxiatitan binglingi. It is known from a single partial skeleton consisting of most of the neck and back vertebrae, two tail vertebrae, a shoulder blade, and a thigh bone. At the time of its discovery in 2008, Daxiatitan was regarded as potentially the largest known dinosaur from China.

<i>Ruyangosaurus</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

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<i>Xianshanosaurus</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

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<i>Yongjinglong</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Yongjinglong is an extinct genus of titanosauriform sauropod dinosaur known from the Early Cretaceous of Lanzhou-Minhe Basin of Gansu Province, China. It contains a single species, Yongjinglong datangi.

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References

  1. You, H.; Li, D.; Zhou, L. & Ji, Q. (2006). "Huanghetitan liujiaxiaensis, a New Sauropod Dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous Hekou Group of Lanzhou Basin, Gansu Province, China". Geological Review. 52 (5): 668–674.
  2. 1 2 Mannion, Philip D.; Upchurch, Paul; Barnes, Rosie N.; Mateus, Octávio (2013). "Osteology of the Late Jurassic Portuguese sauropod dinosaur Lusotitan atalaiensis (Macronaria) and the evolutionary history of basal titanosauriforms" (PDF). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 168: 98–206. doi:10.1111/zoj.12029.
  3. 1 2 Lu J., Xu; L., Zhang; X., Hu; W., Wu; Y., Jia, S. & Ji, Q. (2007). "A New Gigantic Sauropod Dinosaur with the Deepest Known Body Cavity from the Cretaceous of Asia". Acta Geologica Sinica. 81 (2): 167. doi:10.1111/j.1755-6724.2007.tb00941.x.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. 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
  5. Paul, Gregory S. (2019). "Determining the largest known land animal: A critical comparison of differing methods for restoring the volume and mass of extinct animals" (PDF). Annals of the Carnegie Museum. 85 (4): 335–358. doi:10.2992/007.085.0403. S2CID   210840060.
  6. Averianov, A.; Ivanstov, S.; Skutschas, P.; Faingertz, A.; Leschinskiy, S. (2018). "A new sauropod dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous Ilek Formation, Western Siberia, Russia". Geobios. 51: 1–14. doi:10.1016/J.GEOBIOS.2017.12.004.