Aegyptosaurus
- Africa (Egypt, possibly Niger)
- Aegyptosaurus baharijensis
Aegyptosaurus is a genus of sauropod dinosaur from the group of Titanosauria. Fossils date from the early Cretaceous of North Africa.
Aegyptosaurus was already described in 1932 by German paleontologist Ernst Stromer von Reichenbach basis of a fragmentary skeleton, consisting of the Bahariya Oasis ( Bahariya Formation) originates in Egypt. The only way is Aegyptosaurus baharijensis. This skeleton was preserved since then in Munich and went in WWII lost in an air raid on April 24 and 25, 1944.
Features
Aegyptosaurus was a medium sized sauropod with an estimated length of 16 meters and a weight of about 10 tonnes. The exact delineation of other genera is difficult because the bone is no longer available for new investigations.
The only other sauropod from the Bahariya Formation is the Paralititan described in 2001, but which can be distinguished by some features of Aegyptosaurus: So Aegyptosaurus was significantly smaller than Paralititan, for example, measures of the upper arm bone (humerus ) only 59 % of the length of the humerus of Paralititan. The anterior caudal vertebrae had Aegyptosaurus observations of Ernst Stromer, according to the lateral cavities ( Pleurocoele ), in contrast to Paralititan. Other differences between these genera are found in the morphology of the scapula and humerus.
The anterior and middle caudal vertebrae appear to have been procoel (on the front concave) - a feature of more modern ( abgeleiteterer ) Titanosauria.
System
The systematic position within the Titanosauria is unclear. Upchurch and colleagues ( 2004) maintain Aegyptosaurus for a more original Titanosauria and classify him outside the Lithostrotia, a group that are attributed to all modern Titanosaurier. Curry Rogers ( 2005), classified as Aegyptosaurus original representative within a Saltasauridae, along with genres such as Opisthocoelicaudia, Saltasaurus, Nemegtosaurus and Rapetosaurus.
Fund, Research History and naming
Ernst Stromer explored the Bahariya Oasis in the early 20th century, describing a diverse fossil vertebrate fauna. In addition to the remains of the Aegyptosaurus he found, for example, the theropod Spinosaurus, Carcharodontosaurus and Bahariasaurus. Stromers collection, including Aegyptosaurus - bone, was in the Old Academy in Munich kept (then seat of the Bavarian State Collection for Palaeontology and Historical Geology ) and was largely lost during the air raid on Munich 1944. The fragmentary skeleton ( holotype, specimen number BSP 1912 VIII 61) of Aegyptosaurus consisted of a shoulder blade partially preserved, nine leg bones and three caudal vertebrae. These remains came probably from the early Late Cretaceous ( Cenomanian ).
The name Aegyptosaurus derives from the Latin and the Greek Egypto saura and means something like " Egyptian lizard". The Artepitheth baharijensis refers to the Bahariya oasis, the location of the skeleton.
In addition to the holotype specimen Ernst Stromer described some more Sauropodenfossilien from the Bahariya oasis and arranged them for the time being also Aegyptosaurus to. These finds include an indeterminate vertebrae (BSP 1912 VIII 66), two possible caudal vertebrae (BSP 1912 VIII 67 ) and a procoelous caudal vertebrae (BSP 1912 VIII 65). Since known with the discovery of Paralititan two sauropods from the Baharija fauna, these remains, however, must be classified as Sauropoda unexplained assignment ( incertae sedis ), since it is not clear which of the two species they belonged. Lapparent (1960 ) placed this genus to three other fragmentary finds from the Niger.