Liaoningotitan
Liaoningotitan Temporal range: Early Cretaceous,
| |
---|---|
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Clade: | Dinosauria |
Clade: | Saurischia |
Clade: | †Sauropodomorpha |
Clade: | †Sauropoda |
Clade: | †Macronaria |
Clade: | †Somphospondyli |
Genus: | †Liaoningotitan Zhou et al., 2018 |
Species: | †L. sinensis
|
Binomial name | |
†Liaoningotitan sinensis Zhou et al., 2018
|
Liaoningotitan (meaning "Liaoning giant") is a genus of titanosauriform sauropod from the Early Cretaceous (Barremian) Yixian Formation in Liaoning, China.[1]
Description
Distinguishing features of Liaoningotitan include a ventral margin of the maxilla that is convex, an upper tooth row that is short and anteriorly positioned; an anterior extension of the jugal that nearly reaches the level of the anterior margin of the antorbital fenestra; a basally constricted quadrate wing of the pterygoid; imbricated upper teeth, with narrow spatulate crowns that are D-shaped in cross section, and no labial grooves or denticles; nine reduced and un-imbricated lower teeth; asymmetric lower tooth crowns which are elliptical-like in cross section, with lingual grooves and ridges and a lingually bulbous basal crown; a proximal expansion of the humerus that is about 54.9% the length of the humerus; and an ilium with a pointed preacetabular process.[1]
Classification
Zhou et al. (2018) recover Liaoningotitan as a somphospondylan titanosauriform more derived than Euhelopus.[1]
Paleoecology
Liaoningotitan is one of two titanosauriforms from the Yixian Formation of Liaoning, the other being Dongbeititan. These two forms co-existed with feathered dinosaurs in the Early Cretaceous lacustrine environment of present-day Liaoning.[1]