Gondwanatitan

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Gondwanatitan
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous
Gondwanatitan skull restoration
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Suborder: †Sauropodomorpha
Clade: †Titanosauria
Family: †Aeolosauridae
Tribe: †Aeolosaurini
Genus: †Gondwanatitan
Kellner & de Azevedo, 1999
Species: † G. faustoi
Binomial name
Gondwanatitan faustoi
Kellner & de Azevedo, 1999

Gondwanatitan (meaning "giant from Gondwana") was a titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur. Gondwanatitan was found in Brazil, at the time part of the southern supercontinent Gondwana, in the late Cretaceous Period (70 mya). Like some other sauropods, Gondwanatitan was tall and ate tough shoots and leaves off of the tops of trees. G. faustoi's closest relative was Aeolosaurus.

The type species is Gondwanatitan faustoi, formally described by Kellner and de Azevedo in 1999.

The vertebrae from the middle part of its tail had elongated centra.[1] Gondwanatitan had vertebral lateral fossae that resembled shallow depressions.[2] Fossae that similarly resemble shallow depressions are known from Saltasaurus, Alamosaurus, Malawisaurus, and Aeolosaurus.[2] Venenosaurus also had depression-like fossae, but its "depressions" penetrated deeper into the vertebrae, were divided into two chambers, and extend farther into the vertebral columns.[2]

Its middle tail vertebrae's neural spines angled anteriorly when the vertebrae are aligned.[3] These vertebrae resemble those of Cedarosaurus, Venenosaurus, and Aeolosaurus.[3]

Footnotes

  1. ↑ "Caudal Vertebrae," Tidwell, Carpenter, and Meyer (2001). Page 145.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Caudal Vertebrae," Tidwell, Carpenter, and Meyer (2001). Page 147.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Caudal Vertebrae," Tidwell, Carpenter, and Meyer (2001). Page 146.

References

  • Kellner, A.W.A. and de Azevedo, S.A.K. (1999). "A new sauropod dinosaur (Titanosauria) from the Late Cretaceous of Brazil" in: Tomida, Y., Rich, T.H., and Vickers-Rich, P. (eds.), Proceedings of the Second Gondwanan Dinosaur Symposium, National Science Museum Monographs 15: 111-142
  • Tidwell, V., Carpenter, K. & Meyer, S. 2001. New Titanosauriform (Sauropoda) from the Poison Strip Member of the Cedar Mountain Formation (Lower Cretaceous), Utah. In: Mesozoic Vertebrate Life. D. H. Tanke & K. Carpenter (eds.). Indiana University Press, Eds. D.H. Tanke & K. Carpenter. Indiana University Press. 139-165.

External links


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