Daxiatitan
Daxiatitan (Chinese: 大夏巨龙; pinyin: Dàxiàjùlóng; meaning "Daxia giant" after a tributary of the Yellow River) is a genus of sauropod dinosaur known from the Lower Cretaceous of Gansu, China. Its type and only species is Daxiatitan binglingi (Chinese: 炳灵大夏巨龙; pinyin: Bǐnglíng Dàxiàjùlóng). It is known from a single partial skeleton consisting of most of the neck and back vertebrae, two tail vertebrae, a shoulder blade, and a thigh bone. At the time of its discovery in 2008, Daxiatitan was regarded as potentially the largest known dinosaur from China.[1]
| Daxiatitan Temporal range: Lower Cretaceous, | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Mounted skeleton cast | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | Saurischia |
| Clade: | †Sauropodomorpha |
| Clade: | †Sauropoda |
| Clade: | †Macronaria |
| Clade: | †Titanosauria |
| Genus: | †Daxiatitan You et al., 2008 |
| Species: | †D. binglingi |
| Binomial name | |
| †Daxiatitan binglingi You et al., 2008 | |
Taxonomy
Daxiatitan and its type and only species Daxiatitan binglingi were named by You Hailu, Li Daqing, Zhou Lingqi, and Ji Qiang in 2008. The holotype of D. binglingi, GSLTZP03-001, was collected from the Hekou Group, in Gansu Province, and consists of ten cervical, ten dorsal, and two caudal vertebrae, cervical and dorsal ribs, a haemal arch, a scapulocoracoid, and a femur.[1]
The genus name refers to the Daxia River, a tributary of the Yellow River that runs through the area where the type specimen was found, and the species name refers to Bingling Temple, which is located in the region.[1]
Daxiatitan was initially described as a basal titanosaur,[1] and most subsequent studies have regarded it as a basal titanosaur or as a somphospondylan close to Titanosauria in Euhelopodidae. In 2020, a phylogenetic analysis conducted by Moore et al. found that Daxiatitan and Euhelopus may form a clade with mamenchisaurids.[2]
Description
Daxiatitan was an exceptionally large dinosaur, among the largest known from China.[1] Its length has been estimated as 23–30 meters (75–98 ft),[lower-alpha 1] and its mass has been estimated as 23 tonnes.[4]
Like both Euhelopus and Huanghetitan, it had an enormously long neck.[5]
Footnotes
- Based on the proportions of Euhelopus and Mamenchisaurus, the discoverers of Daxiatitan estimated its length to be up to 30 meters (98 ft).[1] Thomas Holtz later estimated its length at 23 meters (75 ft).[3] In 2020, Molina-Pérez and Larramendi estimated its length as 25 meters (82 ft).[4]
References
- You, H.-L.; Li, D.-Q.; Zhou, L.-Q.; Ji, Q (2008). "Daxiatitan binglingi: a giant sauropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of China". Gansu Geology. 17 (4): 1–10.
- Moore, Andrew J.; Upchurch, Paul; Barrett, Paul M.; Clark, James M.; Xu, Xing (2020-05-28). "Osteology of Klamelisaurus gobiensis (Dinosauria, Eusauropoda) and the evolutionary history of Middle–Late Jurassic Chinese sauropods". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 18 (16): 1299–1393. doi:10.1080/14772019.2020.1759706. ISSN 1477-2019.
- Holtz, Thomas R. Jr. (2011) Dinosaurs: The Most Complete, Up-to-Date Encyclopedia for Dinosaur Lovers of All Ages, Winter 2010 Appendix.
- Molina-Pérez, Rubén; Larramendi, Asier (2020). Dinosaur facts and figures: the sauropods and other sauropodomorphs. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-19069-3.
- http://dinogami.smugmug.com/Travel/Dinosaurs-Along-The-Silk-2/8814579_u2jLY#583746852_JEN8b Reconstructing the skeleton of Daxiatitan
