Malawisaurus

Malawisaurus
Temporal range: Aptian
Display at the Royal Ontario Museum
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Order: Saurischia
Suborder: †Sauropodomorpha
Clade: †Neosauropoda
Clade: †Titanosauria
Clade: †Lithostrotia
Genus: †Malawisaurus
Jacobs et al., 1993
Species: †M. dixeyi
(Haughton, 1928) [originally Gigantosaurus, preoccupied]
Synonyms

Malawisaurus (meaning "Malawi lizard") was a genus of sauropod dinosaur (specifically a titanosaurid). It lived in what is now Africa, specifically Malawi, during the Aptian age of the Early Cretaceous Period. It is one of the few titanosaurs for which skull material has been found.

A reconstruction of the head

It was named by Louis L. Jacobs and colleagues, Maeve Mercredi Fourie and was originally described in 1928 by Sidney H. Haughton as a species of Gigantosaurus (an invalid name for the diplodocid currently known as Tornieria). Haughton considered it closely related to the species G.robustus (later the type species of Janenschia).

Relatively small by sauropod standards, Malawisaurus reached lengths of around 16 metres (52 ft).[1] Like some other titanosaurs, ossicles have been found which are believed to represent dermal scutes that covered the skin.

The vertebrae from the middle part of its tail had elongated centra.[2] Malawisaurus had vertebral lateral fossae that resembled shallow depressions.[3] Fossae that similarly resemble shallow depressions are known from Saltasaurus, Alamosaurus, Aeolosaurus, and Gondwanatitan.[3] Venenosaurus also had depression-like fossae, but its "depressions" penetrated deeper into the vertebrae, were divided into two chambers, and extend farther into the vertebral columns.[3]

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Paul, G.S., 2010, The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs, Princeton University Press p. 207
  2. ↑ "Caudal Vertebrae," Tidwell, Carpenter, and Meyer (2001). Page 145.
  3. 1 2 3 "Caudal Vertebrae," Tidwell, Carpenter, and Meyer (2001). Page 147.

References

  • Paul, Gregory S. (2010) The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs.
  • Tidwell, V., Carpenter, K. & Meyer, S. 2001. New Titanosauriform (Sauropoda) from the Poison Strip Member of the Cedar Mountain Formation (Lower Cretaceous), Utah. In: Mesozoic Vertebrate Life. D. H. Tanke & K. Carpenter (eds.). Indiana University Press, Eds. D.H. Tanke & K. Carpenter. Indiana University Press. 139-165.

External links

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