Gobititan

Gobititan is a genus of dinosaur from the Barremian faunal stage of the Early Cretaceous, approximately 129-125 million years ago. The name of this genus, is derived from the Gobi desert region and the Titans of Greek mythology, which is a reference to its large body size. The species name shenzhouensis, is derived from "Shenzhou", an ancient name for China.

The genus is based on one partial skeleton, which consists of a series of 41 caudal vertebrae and an incomplee left hindlimb. Its remains were recovered in 1997 at the "Middle Gray unit" of the Xinminbao Group in the Gongpoquan Basin in Gansu, China. The type species, Gobititan shenzhouensis IVPP 12579 was described by You, Tang and Luo in 2003 and was classified as a basal titanosaur, a type of sauropod.^[1] This specimen is housed in the collection of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, in Beijing, China.

Estimates suggest that Gobititan was 10 m (33 ft) long and weighed 10 tons.^[2] Gobititan can be distinguished from other titanosaurs based on features of the caudal vertebrae. Compared with advanced titanosaurids, Gobititan has a relatively high number of caudal vertebrae, which is interpreted as a basal feature. In advanced titanosaurids the number of caudal vertebrae was reduced to less than 35. Gobititan is considered to be closely related to Tangvayosaurus. This discovery suggests that titanosaurs might have originated in Asia no later than the Early Cretaceous.

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