Janenschia Temporal range: Late Jurassic | |
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Janenschia humerus, radius and ulna at the Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Clade: | Dinosauria |
Clade: | Saurischia |
Clade: | † Sauropodomorpha |
Clade: | † Sauropoda |
Clade: | † Neosauropoda |
Clade: | † Macronaria |
Genus: | † Janenschia Wild, 1991 |
Species: | †J. robusta |
Binomial name | |
†Janenschia robusta (Fraas, 1908) | |
Janenschia (named after Werner Janensch) is a large herbivorous sauropod dinosaur from the Late Jurassic Tendaguru Formation of Lindi Region, Tanzania around 155 million years ago.
Janenschia has had a convoluted nomenclatural history. In 1907, Eberhard Fraas at "site P", nine hundred metres to the southeast of Tendaguru Hill, discovered two skeletons of gigantic sauropods. They were designated as "Skeleton A" and "Skeleton B". The fossils were transported to the collection of the Stuttgarter Naturaliensammlung in Stuttgart, Germany. Fraas in 1908 decided to name both skeletons as different species of one genus, Gigantosaurus. Skeleton A became Gigantosaurus africanus and skeleton B became Gigantosaurus robustus. The latter species was based on the holotype partial skeleton SMNS 12144, consisting of a right hindlimb. The specific name was inspired by the heavy build of the animal. [1] While doing so, Fraas knew full well that the name Gigantosaurus was already preoccupied by another taxon: Gigantosaurus megalonyx, named by Harry Govier Seeley in 1869. Fraas thought his actions could be justified by the fact that the description by Seeley had been limited and that the material of G. megalonyx had since been referred to another genus, Ornithopsis , by Richard Lydekker. [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]
In 1911, Richard Sternfeld renamed Gigantosaurus Fraas 1908 into Tornieria , pointing out that Fraas's arguments had been irrelevant. Tornieria africana became the type species of the new genus. [7] G. robustus was placed in Tornieria, as T. robusta. Sternfeld's move was not well received in Germany, as he had acted without consent of the ailing Fraas. In 1922, Werner Janensch, who at the Tendaguru had collected additional material, in an article describing the hand of the animal announced that he would keep using the name Gigantosaurus robustus. He claimed that G. megalonyx was a forgotten nomen oblitum and that the rules of the zoological nomenclature should be disregarded if they caused instability by replacing a well-known name by a completely new one. At the same time he synonymized Tornieria with Barosaurus as regarded its type species which then became a Barosaurus africanus. [8] Janensch, for the remainder of his career, would consistently apply the name Gigantosaurus robustus. In 1928, Sidney Henry Haughton exceptionally assigned Tornieria robusta to Barosaurus also, as a Barosaurus robustus. [9]
In 1930, Baron Franz Nopcsa rejected Janensch's arguments. He admitted that Sternfeld had been discourteous but pointed out that the ICZN only in 1927 recommended that the original author should be involved in such name changes. It would thus be absurd to object to an article written in 1911 — and in any case the lack of courtesy had no bearing on the validity of the name. Nopcsa had found several later mentions of G. megalonyx, which thus had not been a nomen oblitum. Furthermore, Gigantosaurus robustus had prior to 1922 not exactly been a well-known name itself. Distasteful as it might be, Nopcsa concluded, it was inevitable to consider Tornieria to be a valid name. [10] SMNS 12144 was subsequently referred to Tornieria by other authors. [11] [12] [13] [14]
In 1991, German palaeontologist Rupert Wild of the Stuttgart Museum of Natural Sciences clarified the taxonomic status of G. robustus, by concluding that it was generically distinct from Tornieria. He renamed it Janenschia in honor of Werner Janensch, who had studied the vertebrate fauna from Tendaguru. Janenschia was placed in the family Titanosauridae, making it the oldest member of Titanosauria. [15]
A number of specimens formerly assigned to Janenschia have been recognized as distinct genera. Two anterior dorsal vertebrae, and a possible posterior cervical vertebra, previously referred to the genus, were named Tendaguria in 2000. [16] On the other hand, the caudal vertebral series MB.R.2091.1–30 does not overlap with SMNS 12144 and instead represents the first taxon of Mamenchisauridae from outside Asia, Wamweracaudia . [17] [18] Recent cladistic analysis places Janenschia as a non-titanosauriform sauropod. [19] [18]
Gigantosaurus is a dubious genus of sauropod dinosaur from the Late Jurassic Kimmeridge Clay Formation of England. The type species, Gigantosaurus megalonyx, was named and described by Harry Govier Seeley in 1869.
Kentrosaurus is a genus of stegosaurid dinosaur from the Late Jurassic in Lindi Region of Tanzania. The type species is K. aethiopicus, named and described by German palaeontologist Edwin Hennig in 1915. Often thought to be a "primitive" member of the Stegosauria, several recent cladistic analyses find it as more derived than many other stegosaurs, and a close relative of Stegosaurus from the North American Morrison Formation within the Stegosauridae.
Barosaurus was a giant, long-tailed, long-necked, plant-eating sauropod dinosaur closely related to the more familiar Diplodocus. Remains have been found in the Morrison Formation from the Upper Jurassic Period of Utah and South Dakota. It is present in stratigraphic zones 2–5.
Procompsognathus is an extinct genus of coelophysid theropod dinosaur that lived approximately 210 million years ago during the later part of the Triassic Period, in what is now Germany. Procompsognathus was a small-sized, lightly built, ground-dwelling, bipedal carnivore, that could grow up to 1 m (3.3 ft) long.
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Giraffatitan is a genus of sauropod dinosaur that lived during the late Jurassic Period in what is now Lindi Region, Tanzania. Only one species is known, G. brancai, named in honor of German paleontologist Wilhelm von Branca, who was a driving force behind the expedition that discovered it in the Tendaguru Formation. Giraffatitan brancai was originally described by German paleontologist Werner Janensch as a species of the North American sauropod Brachiosaurus from the Morrison Formation, as Brachiosaurus brancai. Recent research shows that the differences between the type species of Brachiosaurus and the Tendaguru material are so large that the African material should be placed in a separate genus.
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Lindi District also known as Mtama District is one of six administrative districts of Lindi Region in Tanzania. The District covers an area of 5,975 km2 (2,307 sq mi). Kilwa district is bordered to the north by Kilwa District, to the east by the Indian Ocean and Lindi Municipal District, to the south by the Mtwara Region, and to the west by the Nachingwea District. The district seat (capital) is the town and ward of Mtama. The district is known for the Tendaguru Formation, the richest Late Jurassic strata of fossils in Africa. According to the 2012 census, the district has a total population of 191,143.
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Tornieria is a genus of diplodocid sauropod dinosaur from the Late Jurassic in Lindi Region of Tanzania. It has a convoluted taxonomic history.
Efraasia is a genus of basal sauropodomorph dinosaur. It was a herbivore which lived during the middle Norian stage of the Late Triassic, around 210 million years ago, in what is now Germany. It was named in 1973 after Eberhard Fraas, who during the early twentieth century collected what were the original type specimens.
Tendaguria is a genus of herbivorous sauropod dinosaur from the Late Jurassic of Lindi Region, Tanzania.
Camarasauridae is a family of sauropod dinosaurs. Among sauropods, camarasaurids are small to medium-sized, with relatively short necks. They are visually identifiable by a short skull with large nares, and broad, spatulate teeth filling a thick jaw. Based on cervical vertebrae and cervical rib biomechanics, camarasaurids most likely moved their necks in a vertical, rather than horizontal, sweeping motion, in contrast to most diplodocids.
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Australodocus is a genus of sauropod dinosaur that lived during the Late Jurassic period, around 150 million years ago, in what is now Lindi Region, Tanzania. Though initially considered a diplodocid, recent analyses suggest it may instead be a titanosauriform.
Brachiosaurus is a genus of sauropod dinosaur that lived in North America during the Late Jurassic, about 154 to 150 million years ago. It was first described by American paleontologist Elmer S. Riggs in 1903 from fossils found in the Colorado River valley in western Colorado, United States. Riggs named the dinosaur Brachiosaurus altithorax; the generic name is Greek for "arm lizard", in reference to its proportionately long arms, and the specific name means "deep chest". Brachiosaurus is estimated to have been between 18 and 22 meters long; body mass estimates of the subadult holotype specimen range from 28.3 to 46.9 metric tons. It had a disproportionately long neck, small skull, and large overall size, all of which are typical for sauropods. Atypically, Brachiosaurus had longer forelimbs than hindlimbs, which resulted in a steeply inclined trunk, and a proportionally shorter tail.
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Wamweracaudia is a large herbivorous sauropod dinosaur from the Late Jurassic Tendaguru Formation of Tanzania, Africa, 155-145 million years ago.