Phuwiangosaurus

Phuwiangosaurus
Temporal occurrence
	Lower Cretaceous ( Valanginium to Hauterivium )
	139.3 to 130.7 million years
Locations
	Thailand;
Systematics
	Lizard dinosaur (Saurischia)
	Sauropods (Sauropoda)
	Macronaria
	Titanosauriformes
	Titanosaurs (Titanosauria)
	Phuwiangosaurus
Scientific name
	Phuwiangosaurus
	Martin et al. , 1994
Art
	Phuwiangosaurus sirindhornae;

Phuwiangosaurus ("Lizard of Phu Wiang") was a medium-sized sauropod dinosaur (Sauropoda) from the group of Titanosauria , which comes from the Lower Cretaceous ( Valangium to Hauterivium ) of Southeast Asia ( Thailand ). Only the type Phuwiangosaurus sirindhornae belongsto this genus .

Phuwiangosaurus could grow up to 19 meters long and 17 tons. Like all sauropods, it was a herbivore and moved four-legged .

Fossil record

Phuwiangosaurus is known from the remains of various individuals - both adults and young animals. The findings include a postcranial skeleton (the skeleton without the skull ), numerous isolated skeletal elements, skull fragments and fossil material from young animals (Martin et al. 1994). Buffetaut (2002) also described a brain skull (neurocranium). All finds come from the Sao Khua Formation in northeastern Thailand, and a large part of the numerous sauropod fossils from the Khorat plateau can be assigned to Phuwiangosaurus . The holotype comes from the district ( Amphoe ) Phu Wiang in the province of Khon Kaen , which gives the genus its name.

anatomy

The anatomical description and systematic classification of the holotype is based on cervical vertebrae near the skull and the thigh bone (humerus). The vertebrae are characterized by low, wide neural arches , the humerus is characterized by an approximately equal width of the cross-section of the proximal (near the body) and the distal (distal) end. Martin et al. In 1994, in the first scientific description , many other features were listed, which however are not exclusive characteristics ( autapomorphies ) for Phuwiangosaurus , but also occur in other sauropods.

Systematics

For Martin et al. In 1994 Phuwiangosaurus is considered a puzzling sauropod, which is not easy to assign to one of the systematic large groups. The authors placed it among the Titanosauria , but they later proposed to classify it as an early representative of the taxon Nemegtosauridae established by Upchurch in 1995 on the basis of fewer jaw fragments and teeth (Martin et al. 1999). Upchurch (1998) sees Phuwiangosaurus as an original titanosauriform , which was probably more closely related to the Titanosauria than to the Brachiosauridae . In 2002, Buffetaut described a brain skull and assigned it to Phuwiangosaurus . This find shows a close relationship with Nemegtosaurus , which is why Wilson (2005) confirmed the assignment to the Nemegtosauridae. However, there are still no phylogenetic analyzes that include the new find.

literature

Valérie Martin, Eric Buffetaut , Varavudh Suteethorn : A new genus of sauropod dinosaur from the Sao Khua Formation (Late Jurassic or Early Cretaceous) of northwestern Thailand. In: Comptes Rendus de l'Academie des Sciences. Series 2: Mécanique, Physique, Chimie, Astronomie, Sciences de la Terre et des Planètes. Vol. 319, 1994, ISSN 0249-6305 , pp. 1085-1092, digitized .
Valérie Martin, Eric Buffetaut, Varavudh Suteethorn: Description of the type and referred material of Phuwiangosaurus sirindhornae Martin, Buffetaut and Suteethorn, 1994, a sauropod from the Lower Cretaceous of Thailand. In: Oryctos. Vol. 2, 1999, ISSN 1290-4805 , pp. 39-91.
Paul Upchurch : The phylogenetic relationships of sauropod dinosaurs. In: Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. Vol. 124, No. 1, 1998, ISSN 0024-4082 , pp. 43-103, doi : 10.1111 / j.1096-3642.1998.tb00569.x .

Individual evidence

^ ^A ^b Gregory S. Paul : The Princeton Field Guide To Dinosaurs. Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ et al. 2010, ISBN 978-0-691-13720-9 , p. 205, online .
↑ ^a ^b The Paleobiology Database
^ ^A ^b 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 .
↑ ^a ^b DinoData.org ( Memento from April 24, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
^ Mathew J. Wedel: The Evolution of Vertebral Pneumaticity in Sauropod Dinosaurs. In: Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. Vol. 23, No. 2, 2003, ISSN 0272-4634 , pp. 344-357, doi : 10.1671 / 0272-4634 (2003) 023 [0344: TEOVPI] 2.0.CO; 2 , digitized version (PDF; 3.05 MB) ( Memento from September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ).

↑ Jeffrey A. Wilson: Redescription of the Mongolian Sauropod Nemegtosaurus mongoliensis Nowinski (Dinosauria: Saurischia) and comments on Late Crataceous Sauropod Diversity. In: Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. Vol. 3, No. 3, 2005, ISSN 1477-2019 , pp. 283-318, doi : 10.1017 / S1477201905001628 .

[Paul-1] A ^b Gregory S. Paul : The Princeton Field Guide To Dinosaurs. Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ et al. 2010, ISBN 978-0-691-13720-9 , p. 205, online .

[PaleoData-2] The Paleobiology Database

[Dinosauria-3] A ^b 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 .

[DinoData-4] DinoData.org ( Memento from April 24, 2007 in the Internet Archive )

[5] Mathew J. Wedel: The Evolution of Vertebral Pneumaticity in Sauropod Dinosaurs. In: Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. Vol. 23, No. 2, 2003, ISSN 0272-4634 , pp. 344-357, doi : 10.1671 / 0272-4634 (2003) 023 [0344: TEOVPI] 2.0.CO; 2 , digitized version (PDF; 3.05 MB) ( Memento from September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ).

[nemegtosaurus-6] Jeffrey A. Wilson: Redescription of the Mongolian Sauropod Nemegtosaurus mongoliensis Nowinski (Dinosauria: Saurischia) and comments on Late Crataceous Sauropod Diversity. In: Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. Vol. 3, No. 3, 2005, ISSN 1477-2019 , pp. 283-318, doi : 10.1017 / S1477201905001628 .