Dongbeititan

Dongbeititan is a genus of sauropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous-age Yixian Formation of Beipiao, Liaoning, China. It is based on holotype DNHM D2867, a partial postcranial skeleton including bones from the limbs, shoulder and pelvic girdles, and vertebrae, which was described in 2007. Its describers suggested it was as a basal titanosauriform, not as derived as Gobititan or Jiutaisaurus, but more derived than Euhelopus, Fusuisaurus, and Huanghetitan. The type species is D. dongi, and it is the first named sauropod from the Yixian Formation, which is part of the well-known Jehol Group. The genus name refers to the region Dongbei and to Greek titan, "giant". The specific name honours the Chinese paleontologist Dong Zhiming.[1] Like other sauropods, Dongbeititan would have been a large quadrupedal herbivore.[2]

Dongbeititan
Temporal range: Early Cretaceous,
Dongbeititan hunted by Yutyrannus
Scientific classification e
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Clade: Saurischia
Clade: †Sauropodomorpha
Clade: †Sauropoda
Clade: †Macronaria
Clade: †Somphospondyli
Genus: †Dongbeititan
Wang et al., 2007
Type species
†Dongbeititan dongi
Wang et al., 2007

A fossils of unknown dinosaur were found in northe-eastern China, in western Liaoning province, in the region of Beipiao. A bones lied in a valley between Libalang and Er Valleys, about 5 km north-western from Sihetun Fossil Museum in Beipiao. This area is covered by Jehol group rocks, formed in Early Cretaceous. Between these rocks numerous discoveries have been already found.[1] Xu & Norel (2006) enlisted from Jehol group 25 species of non-avian dinosaurs, among them Ornithopoda (Jeholosaurus shangyuanensis, Jinzhousaurus yangi), Ankylosauria (Liaoningosaurus paradoxus) and Ceratopsia (Psittacosaurus meileyingensis, P. mongoliensis, P. sp., Hongshanosaurus houi, Liaoceratops yanzigouensis), and especially member of different Coelurosauria groups, as Compsognathidae (Huaxiagnathus orientalis, Sinosauropteryx prima), Therizinosauroidea (Beipiaosaurus inexpectus), Ornithomimosauria (Shenzhousaurus orientalis), Oviraptorosauria (Caudipteryx zou, C. dongi, Incisivosaurus gauthieri), Tyrannosauroidea (Dilong paradoxus, D. sp.).[3] (their list does not include taxa described later, as Yutyrannus),[4] Dromaeosauridae (Graciliraptor lujiatunensis, Microraptor gui, M. zhaoianus, Sinornithosaurus milleni), Troodontidae (Sinovenator changii, Mei long, Sinucerasaurus magodens), and further unclassified (Protarchaeopteryx robusta, Yixianosaurus longimanus). Remains of Sauropodomorpha were found only in the form of fossils incertae sedis.[3] No taxon was described from them, what made a picture of Jehol fauna incomplete. Aforemnetioned new fossils were found in the rocks of Jehol group-belonging Yixian Formation, formed in barremian. In 2006 the fossils were gained by Natural History Museum in Dalian and Lufeng Dinosaur Research Center of Yunnan Province offered help in specimen preparation. The specimen was exposed by mentioned museum, cataloged as D2867.[1]

The bones were characterized by a camelar structure of presacred vertebrae, pneumatocoels on proximal extremities of dorsal costae and medially bent proximal proximal femur. Mentioned traits suggest that the specimen belongs to Titanosauriformes,[1] a sauropod group from Macronarian line, one of 2 main lines of evolutionarily derived sauropods.[5] Titanosauriformes, created by Leonardo Salgado, contain Brachiosaurus and Titanosauria.[6] It means it comprise Brachiosauridae, Euhelopus and Titanosauria, wherein the last two of mentioned made up a clade Somphospondyli.[5] The newly described specimen belongs to Somphospondyli too, but not do Titanosauria,[1] defined as all Titanosauriformes closer to Saltasaurus than Brachiosaurus or Euhelopus.[6] This evolutionary advanced group links Saltasauridae, Nemegtosauridae and Malawisaurus.[5] Authors, besides they classified the new taxon in Somphospondyli, described it as a basal Titanosauriformes member. As a traits distinguishing it from its relatives they point out firstly coracoid bone elongated anteroposteriorly and of square capitoventral end and secondly long, smooth, slightly convex acetabular margin of pubic bone. Having given the diagnostic traits, the authors could describe a new genus of Dinosauria. They named it Dongbeititan. The generic name refers to a place where the bones have been found, a Dongbei region containing Chinese provinces Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang. Its name comes from chinese language. To that Donbei second word titan was joined. It descends from greek and was denoting enormous giants from Greek mythology,[1] Titans, sons of Uranus and Gaia, a primordial deities defeated by later Olimpic gods.[7] In the genus a single species was placed, namely Dongbeititan dongi. Its specific epithet honors palaeontology professor Dong Zhiming in recognition of his contributions in research and education in the field of Chinese dinosaurs. Wang et al. didn't published in their paper any cladogram presenting position of the new genus on the evolutionary tree of Titanosauriformes.[1]

References
  1. Wang, X.; You, H.; Meng, Q.; Gao, C.; Chang, X.; Liu, J. (2007). "Dongbeititan dongi, the first sauropod dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous Jehol Group of western Liaoning Province, China". Acta Geologica Sinica (English Edition). 81 (6): 911–916. doi:10.1111/j.1755-6724.2007.tb01013.x. S2CID 128812879.
  2. Upchurch, Paul; Barrett, Paul M.; Dodson, Peter. (2004). "Sauropoda". In Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; Osmólska, Halszka (eds.). The Dinosauria (2nd ed.). Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 259–322. ISBN 0-520-24209-2.
  3. Xing Xu, Mark A. Norell (2006). "Non-Avian dinosaur fossils from the Lower Cretaceous Jehol Group of western Liaoning, China". Geological Journal. 41 (3–4): 419–437. doi:10.1002/gj.1044. S2CID 32369205.
  4. Xu, X.; Wang, K.; Zhang, K.; Ma, Q.; Xing, L.; Sullivan, C.; Hu, D.; Cheng, S.; Wang, S.; et al. (2012). "A gigantic feathered dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of China" (PDF). Nature. 484 (7392): 92–95. doi:10.1038/nature10906. PMID 22481363. S2CID 29689629. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 April 2012.
  5. Jeffrey A. Wilson (2002). "Sauropod dinosaur phylogeny: critique and cladistic analysis". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 136 (2): 215–275. doi:10.1046/j.1096-3642.2002.00029.x.
  6. Jeffrey A. Wilson, Paul C. Sereno (1998). "Early evolution and higher-level phylogeny of sauropod dinosaurs" (PDF). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 18 (S2): 1–79. doi:10.2307/3889325. JSTOR 3889325.
  7. Pierre Grimal (2008). Słownik mitologii greckiej i rzymskiej (in Polish). Wrocław: Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich – Wydawnictwo we Wrocławiu. p. 357. ISBN 978-83-04-04673-3.


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