Huabeisaurus

Skeletal reconstruction of Huabeisaurus allocotus

• China, Shanxi ( Huiquanpu Formation)

• Huabeisaurus allocotus

Huabeisaurus is a genus of sauropod dinosaur from the group of Titanosauriformes. So far, a relatively complete, but skull -less skeleton with two teeth is known, which dates from the Upper Cretaceous of China. Huabeisaurus was described in 2000 by Pang and Cheng first time scientifically. The only way is Huabeisaurus allocotus.

Features

Huabeisaurus was like all sauropods a four-legged herbivore with a long neck and tail and a small relative skull. It was a large sauropod with an estimated length of 20 meters and a height of 5 meters. Were pin-shaped teeth as in many other Neosauropoden and a long tooth crown, which is about three times as long as the tooth root. The spinous processes of the cervical and dorsal vertebrae were relatively high, the neck vertebrae were bifurcated.

From other genera can be Huabeisaurus particular through the ilium ( ilium ) differ: For example, the iliac blade (the front area of this bone ) dorsoventral extremely deep. The bottom of the ilium shows as in other sauropods two downward stems: The directed towards the ischial " ischiadic peduncle " and directed to the pubic bone "pubic peduncle ". In Huabeisaurus the foremost part of the ilium extends so far down that its lower edge is in line with these two stems.

Fund and naming

The skeleton ( holotype, specimen number 20001 HBV ) comes from rocks of the Upper Cretaceous of Huiquanpu formation in a circle Tianzhen in Shanxi Province, China. The name Huabeisaurus consists of Huabei, the Chinese name for the Greater North China, and sauros, the ancient Greek word for " lizard" together. The second part of the species name, allocotus, means " unusual " and points to the particular importance of this sauropod.

Initially associated Pang and Cheng Huabeisaurus own family, the Huabeisauridae - according to these researchers shows this genus distinct differences from other Sauropodengruppen as the Diplodocidae, the Titanosauridae and Nemegtosauridae. Upchurch and colleagues ( 2004) show, however, that it is possible to be a representative of the Titanosauriformes, and within this group a Titanosauria. According to these researchers, however, it must be classified outside the Lithostrotia ( = Titanosauridae ), since the anterior caudal vertebrae were not procoel (on the front concave). Buffetaut (2002 ) ranked Huabeisaurus the Nemegtosauridae to a group derived ( advanced ) Titanosauria - other researchers disagree, however, and point out the features of this primitive sauropod.