Lusotitan
| Lusotitan Temporal range: Late Jurassic
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|---|---|
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | Saurischia |
| Clade: | †Sauropodomorpha |
| Clade: | †Sauropoda |
| Clade: | †Macronaria |
| Family: | †Brachiosauridae |
| Genus: | †Lusotitan Antunes & Mateus, 2003 |
| Species: | †L. atalaiensis
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| Binomial name | |
| †Lusotitan atalaiensis (Lapparent & Zbyszewski, 1957 [originally Brachiosaurus])
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| Synonyms | |
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Brachiosaurus atalaiensis Lapparent & Zbyszewski, 1957 | |
Lusotitan is a genus of herbivorous brachiosaurid sauropod dinosaur from the Late Jurassic Period of Portugal.
In 1947 by Manuel de Matos, collector of the Geological Survey of Portugal, fossils of a large sauropod were found in the Portuguese Lourinhã Formation dating to the Tithonian stage of the Late Jurassic.[1] In 1957 the remains were by Albert-Félix de Lapparent and Georges Zbyszewski named as a new species of Brachiosaurus: Brachiosaurus atalaiensis.[2] The specific name referred to the site, Atalaia. It was in 2003 by Octávio Mateus and Miguel Telles Antunes renamed a separate genus: Lusotitan. The type species is Lusotitan atalaiensis. The generic name is derived from Luso, the Latin name for an inhabitant of Lusitania, and Greek Titan, a mythological giant.[1]
The finds consisted of a partial skeleton lacking the skull and individual vertebrae uncovered in several locations. De Lapparent did not assign a holotype. In 2003 Mateus chose the skeleton as the lectotype. Its bones have the inventory numbers MIGM 4798, 4801-10, 4938, 4944, 4950, 4952, 4958, 4964-6, 4981-2, 4985, 8807, 8793-5. These remains include 28 vertebrae and elements of the appendicular skeleton.
It has been estimated that Lusotitan was 25 meters (82 feet) long. It had long forearms, one of the reasons Mateus assigned it to the Brachiosauridae.
References
- ^ a b Antunes, Miguel (2003). "Dinosaurs of Portugal". Comptes Rendus Palevol. 2 (1): 77–95. doi:10.1016/S1631-0683(03)00003-4. Retrieved 2008-07-06.
{{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ A.F. de Lapparent & G. Zbyszewski, 1957, "Les dinosauriens du Portugal", Mémoires des Services Géologiques du Portugal, nouvelle série 2: 1-63
- Dixon, Dougal. The Complete Book of Dinosaurs. Hermes House, 2006.
External links
- Brachiosauridae from Thescelosaurus!
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