Adamantisaurus

Artistic representation of live Adamantisaurus

• São Paulo, Brazil ( Bauru Group)

• Adamantisaurus mezzalirai

Adamantisaurus is a genus of sauropod dinosaur from the group of Titanosauria who lived in the Upper Cretaceous of South America.

Like all sauropods had Adamantisaurus a large, quadrupeder ( four-footed ) herbivore with a long neck and tail. So far, only six front associated caudal vertebrae and two Haemapophysen ( projections of caudal vertebrae ) are known, were discovered in the Brazilian province of São Paulo. The genus was first described with the single species, Adamantisaurus mezzalirai, in 2006 by Santucci and Bertini.

Features

The six caudal vertebrae were located in the discovery of the anatomical composite, there were believed to be a series from the second to the seventh caudal vertebrae. The vertebrae were strongly procoel, so concave on the front. These vortices found some autapomorphies ( distinguishing features ), with which one can distinguish the genus from other genera: So the upward spinous example, were slightly tilted backwards and enlarged laterally at their upper ends, also reported the post and prezygapophyses ( mechanical connection elements of the vertebrae) to enlarged connection areas, the connection area of ​​the postzygapophyses was concave.

Fund and naming

The vortex has the paleontologist Sergio MeZ 1958 collected during the construction of a railroad ( Adamantina - Irapuru ), along with some Titanosaurier teeth and an almost completely preserved turtle, which is not well understood. The site is located near the southwestern Florida Paulista São Paulo and belongs geologically to Adamantina formation, a layer link of the Bauru Group. The exact age of the Bauru Group is still controversial, the describer suspect, however, that the bones of the late Campanian to early Maastrichtian come.

Originally located MeZ (1966, 1989) the vertebrae to a femur, which was rescued by workers during the construction of the railway from the same site, the later vortex emerging from the. However, the describer did not write this bone to the Adamantisaurus, probably because he belonged to another individual; he was small in relation to the vertebrae and showed a different state of preservation. In addition, sites are discovered in several species together, in the Adamantina lineup frequently, so the bones could belong to a different species.

The name is derived from the Adamantisaurus Adamantina lineup, from the date the fossils, as well as from the Greek σαῦρος sauros - " lizard". The Artepitheth mezzalirai honors the paleontologist Sergio MeZ, which has collected the bones and was first mentioned in the literature.

Swell

• Santucci RA, RJ Bertini: A new titanosaur from western São Paulo State, Upper Cretaceous Bauru Group, south -east Brazil. In: Palaeontology. 49, No. 1, 2006, pp. 171-185.