Lapparentosaurus

Lapparentosaurus
Temporal range: Middle Jurassic
Lapparentosaurus madagascariensis foot bones
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Sauropsida
Superorder: Dinosauria
Order: Saurischia
Suborder: Sauropodomorpha
Infraorder: Sauropoda
Genus: Lapparentosaurus
Bonaparte, 1986
Species
  • Lapparentosaurus madagascariensis (type)

Lapparentosaurus is a genus of macronarian sauropod dinosaur from the Middle Jurassic. Its fossils were found in Madagascar.

In 1895 Richard Lydekker named a new species of Bothriospondylus, B. madagascariensis based on fossils found before 1894 by J.T. Last in the Majunga Basin in layers of the Bathonian, the Isalo III Formation.[1] Because there was no real connection with this English form, in 1986 José Fernando Bonaparte named a separate genus.[2] The type species, the only known, is Lapparentosaurus madagascariensis. The generic name honours Albert-Félix de Lapparent. The holotype assigned by Bonaparte, MAA 91-92, consists of two neural arches. Much more abundant material has been referred, from at least three but perhaps as much as ten individuals from different growth stages. This includes vertebrae and limb elements but no skulls. The species is still lacking a good description and diagnosis. It should not be confused with ?Bothriospondylus madagascariensis, a distinct taxon.

Leg and hip bones at Museo di Storia Naturale di Venezia

Age determination studies performed using growth ring counts suggest that this sauropod took 31-45 years to reach sexual maturity[3] and was relatively fast-growing given the presence of a large amount of fibrolamellar bone.[4]

Notes

  1. ↑ R. Lydekker, 1895, "On bones of a sauropodous dinosaur from Madagascar", Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London 51: 329-336
  2. ↑ J.F. Bonaparte, 1986, "Les dinosaures (Carnosaures, Allosauridés, Sauropodes, Cétosauridés) du Jurassique Moyen de Cerro Cóndor (Chubut, Argentina)", Annales de Paléontologie (Vert.-Invert.) 72(3): 325-386
  3. ↑ de Ricqlès, 1983, "Cyclical growth in the long bones of a sauropod dinosaur", Acta Palaeontologia Polonica 28: 225-232
  4. ↑ Rimblot-Baly, F., A. de Ricqlès, & L. Zylberberg, 1995, "Analyse paléohistologique d'une série de croissance partielle chez Lapparentosaurus madagascariensis (Jurassique Moyen): essai sur la dynamique de croissance d'un dinosaure sauropode", Annales de Paléontologie 81: 49–86

References

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