Atsinganosaurus

Atsinganosaurus
	Fossil of Atsinganosaurus velauciensis (VBN 93.01)
Temporal occurrence
	Upper Chalk (Upper Campanium )
	76.4 to 72 million years
Locations
	France , Bouches-du-Rhône ;
Systematics
	Lizard dinosaur (Saurischia)
	Sauropods (Sauropoda)
	Neosauropoda
	Macronaria
	Titanosaurs (Titanosauria)
	Atsinganosaurus
Scientific name
	Atsinganosaurus
	Gracia et al. , 2010
Art
	Atsinganosaurus velauciensis;

Atsinganosaurus is a genus of sauropod dinosaur from the group of Titanosauria , the remains of which were discovered in the Upper Cretaceous of southern France .

This genus was the only way in 2010 atsinganosaurus velauciensis by French paleontologists to Geraldine Garcia first described . Atsinganosaurus is known for various elements of the residual skeleton (post-cranium) as well as for teeth that were discovered in the La Bastide Neuve site near the town of Velaux . These remains belong to at least two adult individuals. This genus is, after Lirainosaurus , Ampelosaurus and Magyarosaurus , the fourth titanosaur discovered from the Upper Cretaceous Europe.

features

Atsinganosaurus was a slender titanosaur. This genus can be distinguished from the other known European titanosaurs by a combination of diagnostic features. For example, the tooth roots are cylindrical and the tooth crowns are slightly spatula-shaped. The vertebrae lack hyposphene-hypantrum connections , as in most other Titanosauria except for some basal forms such as Andesaurus . The sacrum consists of five ophistocoeles (concave on the back) vertebrae; many more derived Titanosauria had six sacral vertebrae. Only the anterior caudal vertebrae were strongly procoel (concave on the front), as in Malawisaurus . The foramen (opening) of the raven leg (coracoid) was located in the middle of the upper and lower side of the raven leg . The lower end of the upper arm bone (humerus) is expanded slightly at an angle.

Systematics

Atsinganosaurus shows a combination of modern and original ( plesiomorphic ) features of the Titanosauria. This genus shares many common characteristics with basal Lithostrotia , and especially with Malawisaurus . The Lithostrotia are a group within the Titanosauria, which includes most but a few of the original genera. Although the first description did not publish a phylogenetic analysis, they suspect based on this combination of characteristics that Atsinganosaurus was an original representative of the Lithostrotia.

Paleobiogeography

During the Upper Cretaceous Europe was an island archipelago . Atsinganosaurus lived with at least two other titanosaur genera on the Iberian-Armoric Island, which was about three times the size of today's Madagascar. Presumably, this island was temporarily connected to other land masses such as the Transylvanian Islands in Eastern Europe by land bridges. Since Atsinganosaurus shares a number of common traits with the African Malawisaurus , the researchers suspect a temporary migration route between Europe and Africa.

Find and naming

The La Bastide Neuve site is located near the town of Velaux in the Bouches-du-Rhône department in France and was discovered by Xavier Valentin in 1992. The bones are well preserved and discovered over an area of six square meters. The bones were found along with the remains of other vertebrates such as turtles, as well as the teeth of crocodiles, theropods , nodosaurids, and rhabdodontids . The sauropod bones belong to at least two individuals. As the degree of fusion of the vertebral arches, as well as the cervical and sacrum ribs with the vertebral centers, indicates, the bones belong to adult individuals. Some parts of the skeleton were found in the anatomical network.

The rocks of the site are glauconitic limestones , which are classified as Grainstone according to the Dunham classification . These sediments were probably deposited during the Upper Campanium , as indicated by fossils of certain Charophyta and dinosaur eggshells, which are characteristic as time markers for a certain time interval ( biostratigraphy ). The sediments were probably deposited on a coast, as indicated by fossils of the mainly marine decapods , which were discovered in connection with the bones.

The holotype material (copy number VBN.03.01.a, b, c, d) consists of four connected rear (posterior) vertebrae. Other finds include teeth, three cervical vertebrae, another dorsal vertebra, a sacrum, a total of four tail vertebrae, a shoulder blade (scapula) and a shoulder blade with raven bone (scapulocoracoid), two humeri, a metacarpal bone and a metatarsal bone. The bones are in the collections of various French institutes: the University of Poitiers , the Musée de Paléontologie of the University of Provence Aix-Marseille I , the Musée archéologique de Velaux and the Musée d'Histoire Naturelle d'Aix-en-Provence .

The name Atsinganosaurus means something like gypsy lizard and is derived from the Greek athinganos (gypsy), which should indicate the suspected migrations between Eastern and Western Europe. The Artepitheth velauciensis points to the city of Velaux , where the fossils were discovered.

literature

Géraldine Garcia, Sauveur Amico, Francois Fournier, Eudes Thouand, Xavier Valentin: A new Titanosaur genus (Dinosauria, Sauropoda) from the Late Cretaceous of southern France and its paleobiogeographic implications. In: Bulletin de la Société Géologique de France. Vol. 181, No. 3, 2010, ISSN 0037-9409 , pp. 269-277.

Individual evidence

↑ Verónica Díez Díaz, Jean Le Loeuff, Francisco Ortega, Xabier Pereda Suberbiola, José Luis Sanz: Titanosaurs: the largest vertebrate settlers of the Ibero-Armorican Island. In: Fundación Conjunto Paleontológico de Teruel - Dinópolis (ed.): 10th Annual Meeting of the European Association of Vertebrate Palaeontologists. June 19–24, 2012 (= Fundamental. Vol. 20). Fundación Conjunto Paleontológico de Teruel-Dinópolis DL, Teruel 2012, ISBN 978-84-938173-4-3 , pp. 67-69, digitized version (PDF; 6.97 MB) ( Memento of the original from September 3, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . @1@ 2

↑ Sebastián Apesteguía: Evolution of the Hyposphene-Hypantrum Complex within Sauropoda. In: Virginia Tidwell, Kenneth Carpenter (Eds.): Thunder-lizards. The Sauropodomorph Dinosaurs. Indiana University Press, Bloomington IN et al. 2005, ISBN 0-253-34542-1 , pp. 248-267.

^ Paul Upchurch , Paul M. Barrett , Peter Dodson : Sauropoda. In: David B. Weishampel , Peter Dodson, Halszka Osmólska (eds.): The Dinosauria . 2nd edition. University of California Press, Berkeley CA et al. 2004, ISBN 0-520-24209-2 , pp. 259-324.

Web links

Atsinganosaurus in the Paleobiology Database

[1] Verónica Díez Díaz, Jean Le Loeuff, Francisco Ortega, Xabier Pereda Suberbiola, José Luis Sanz: Titanosaurs: the largest vertebrate settlers of the Ibero-Armorican Island. In: Fundación Conjunto Paleontológico de Teruel - Dinópolis (ed.): 10th Annual Meeting of the European Association of Vertebrate Palaeontologists. June 19–24, 2012 (= Fundamental. Vol. 20). Fundación Conjunto Paleontológico de Teruel-Dinópolis DL, Teruel 2012, ISBN 978-84-938173-4-3 , pp. 67-69, digitized version (PDF; 6.97 MB) ( Memento of the original from September 3, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . @1@ 2

[hyposphene-2] Sebastián Apesteguía: Evolution of the Hyposphene-Hypantrum Complex within Sauropoda. In: Virginia Tidwell, Kenneth Carpenter (Eds.): Thunder-lizards. The Sauropodomorph Dinosaurs. Indiana University Press, Bloomington IN et al. 2005, ISBN 0-253-34542-1 , pp. 248-267.

[dinosauria-3] Paul Upchurch , Paul M. Barrett , Peter Dodson : Sauropoda. In: David B. Weishampel , Peter Dodson, Halszka Osmólska (eds.): The Dinosauria . 2nd edition. University of California Press, Berkeley CA et al. 2004, ISBN 0-520-24209-2 , pp. 259-324.