Euhelopus
| Euhelopus Temporal range: Early Cretaceous |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Sauropsida |
| Superorder: | Dinosauria |
| Order: | Saurischia |
| Suborder: | †Sauropodomorpha |
| Infraorder: | †Sauropoda |
| (unranked): | †Titanosauriformes |
| Family: | †Euhelopodidae |
| Genus: | †Euhelopus |
| Binomial name | |
| Euhelopus zdanskyi Wiman, 1929 |
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Euhelopus is a genus of sauropod dinosaur that lived during the Early Cretaceous, between 130 and 112 million years ago (Barremian or Aptian stages).[1] It lived in what is now Shandong Province in China. A large herbivore, it weighed approximately 15-20 tons and attained an adult length of 15m (50 feet).[2] Unlike most other sauropods, Euhelopus had longer fore legs than hind legs.
[edit] Discovery and Species
It was originally named Helopus, meaning "Marsh Foot" by Carl Wiman in 1929, but this name already belonged to a bird. It was renamed Euhelopus in 1956 by Romer. There is a plant genus (a grass) with the same generic name. However, a genus in one biological kingdom is allowed to bear a name that is in use as a genus name in another kingdom, and the name Euhelopus has been allowed. The type species is Euhelopus zdanskyi. Euhelopus is known from a partial skeleton composed of most of the neck and spinal column and a skull that was missing its teeth.[2] The type material is in the Paleontological Museum of Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
[edit] References
- ^ Wilson, Jeffrey A.; and Upchurch, Paul (2009). "Redescription and reassessment of the phylogenetic affinities of Euhelopus zdanskyi (Dinosauria:Sauropoda) from the Early Cretaceous of China". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 7 (2): 199–239. doi:10.1017/S1477201908002691.
- ^ a b "Euhelopus." In: Dodson, Peter & Britt, Brooks & Carpenter, Kenneth & Forster, Catherine A. & Gillette, David D. & Norell, Mark A. & Olshevsky, George & Parrish, J. Michael & Weishampel, David B. The Age of Dinosaurs. Publications International, LTD. p. 70. ISBN 0-7853-0443-6.
- Fastovsky DE, Weishampel DB (2005). "Sauropodomorpha: the big, the bizarre and the majestic". In Fastovsky DE, Weishampel DB. The Evolution and Extinction of the Dinosaurs (2nd Edition). Cambridge University Press. pp. 229–264. ISBN 0-521-81172-4.
[edit] External links
- Euhelopus in The Dinosaur Encyclopaedia at Dino Russ' Lair
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