Asiatosaurus

Asiatosaurus (meaning "Asian lizard") was a genus of herbivorous sauropod dinosaur which lived during the Early Cretaceous.[1] Its fossils have been found in China and Mongolia. Its type species is known only from teeth, making it difficult to rely on information until more specimens are found to expand our knowledge.

Asiatosaurus
Temporal range: Early Cretaceous,
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Clade: Saurischia
Clade: †Sauropodomorpha
Clade: †Sauropoda
Genus: †Asiatosaurus
Osborn, 1924
Type species
†Asiatosaurus mongoliensis
Osborn, 1924
Species
  • †A. mongoliensis Osborn, 1924 (type)
  • †A. kwangshiensis Hou, Yeh & Zhao, 1975
Synonyms

The type species, Asiatosaurus mongoliensis, was described by Osborn, in 1924.[2] It was the first sauropod genus named from East-Asia. In 2020, Molina-Perez and Larramendi estimated A. mongoliensis to be 31 metres (101.7 ft) in length and 45 metric tons (49.6 short tons) in weight, with a total height of 17.5 metres (57.4 ft), making it one of the tallest known dinosaurs.[3]

Asiatosaurus kwangshiensis, the second species, was described by Hou, Yeh and Zhao, in 1975 based on a tooth, three cervical vertebrae and multiple ribs from the Xinlong Formation of Guangxi, China. The genus was classified within Brachiosauridae by Hou et al..[4] Both are now classified as nomina dubia.

References
  1. P. Upchurch, P. M. Barrett, and P. Dodson. 2004. Sauropoda. In D. B. Weishampel, H. Osmolska, and P. Dodson (eds.), The Dinosauria (2nd edition). University of California Press, Berkeley 259-322 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
  2. Osborn, H.F. (1924). "Sauropoda and Theropoda from the Lower Cretaceous of Mongolia". American Museum Novitates. 128: 1–7.
  3. Molina-Perez & Larramendi (2020). Dinosaur Facts and Figures: The Sauropods and Other Sauropodomorphs. New Jersey: Princeton University Press. pp. 55 & 262.
  4. Hou, L.H.; Yeh, H.K.; Zhao, X.J. (1975). "Fossil reptiles from Fusui, Kwangshi" (PDF). Vertebrata PalAsiatica. 13 (1): 24–33.


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