Lusotitan
| Lusotitan Temporal range: Late Jurassic, 152Ma | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Suborder: | †Sauropodomorpha |
| Clade: | †Titanosauriformes |
| Family: | †Brachiosauridae |
| Genus: | †Lusotitan Antunes & Mateus, 2003 |
| Species: | † L. atalaiensis |
| Binomial name | |
| Lusotitan atalaiensis (Lapparent & Zbyszewski, 1957 [originally Brachiosaurus]) | |
| Synonyms | |
|
Brachiosaurus atalaiensis Lapparent & Zbyszewski, 1957 | |
Lusotitan is a genus of herbivorous brachiosaurid sauropod dinosaur from the Late Jurassic Period of Portugal.
In 1947, Manuel de Matos, a member of the Geological Survey of Portugal, discovered large sauropod fossils in the Portuguese Lourinhã Formation that date back to the Tithonian stage of the Late Jurassic period.[1] In 1957, Albert-Félix de Lapparent and Georges Zbyszewski named the remains as a new species of Brachiosaurus: Brachiosaurus atalaiensis.[2] The specific name referred to the site, Atalaia. It was in 2003 by Octávio Mateus and Miguel Telles Antunes renamed a separate genus: Lusotitan. The type species is Lusotitan atalaiensis. The generic name is derived from Luso, the Latin name for an inhabitant of Lusitania, and Greek Titan, a mythological giant.[1]
The finds consisted of a partial skeleton lacking the skull and individual vertebrae uncovered in several locations. De Lapparent did not assign a holotype. In 2003 Mateus chose the skeleton as the lectotype. Its bones have the inventory numbers MIGM 4798, 4801-10, 4938, 4944, 4950, 4952, 4958, 4964-6, 4981-2, 4985, 8807, and 8793-5. These remains include 28 vertebrae and elements of the appendicular skeleton.
It has been estimated that Lusotitan was 25 meters (82 feet) long. It had long forearms, one of the reasons Mateus assigned it to the Brachiosauridae.
The holotype was redescribed by Mannion and colleagues in 2013.[3]
Paleoecology
The Lourinhã Formation is Kimmeridgian-Tithonian in age. The environment is coastal and has a strong marine influence. Its flora and fauna is very similar to the Morrison. Lusotitan is currently the largest dinosaur that has been discovered. Torvosaurus is the top predator in the region. It lived alongside European species of Allosaurus (A. europaeus), Ceratosaurus, and theropod predator Lourinhanosaurus. The diplodocid sauropods Dinheirosaurus and Lourinhasaurus also lived alongside the Lusotitan. Dacentrurus and Miragaia were both stegosaurs, while Dracopelta was an ankylosaurian. Draconyx was an iguanadon.[4]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Antunes, Miguel; Mateus, Octavio (2003). "Dinosaurs of Portugal". Comptes Rendus Palevol 2 (1): 77–95. doi:10.1016/S1631-0683(03)00003-4. Retrieved 2008-07-06.
- ↑ A.F. de Lapparent & G. Zbyszewski, 1957, "Les dinosauriens du Portugal", Mémoires des Services Géologiques du Portugal, nouvelle série 2: 1-63
- ↑ Mannion, P. D., Upchurch P., Barnes R. N., & Mateus O. (2013). Osteology of the Late Jurassic Portuguese sauropod dinosaur Lusotitan atalaiensis (Macronaria) and the evolutionary history of basal titanosauriforms. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 1-109.
- ↑ Octávio Mateus. Late Jurassic dinosaurs from the Morrison Formation (USA) included the Lourinhã and Alcobaça Formations (Portugal), and the Tendaguru Beds (Tanzania). Foster, J.R. and Lucas, S. G. R.M., eds., 2006, Paleontology and Geology of the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin 36.
External links
- Brachiosauridae from Thescelosaurus!