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Extinct genus of dinosaurs From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Daxiatitan[lower-alpha 1] is a genus of sauropod dinosaur known from the Lower Cretaceous of Gansu, China. Its type and only species is Daxiatitan binglingi.[lower-alpha 2] It is known from a single partial skeleton consisting of most of the neck and back vertebrae, two tail vertebrae, a shoulder blade, and a thigh bone. At the time of its discovery in 2008, Daxiatitan was regarded as potentially the largest known dinosaur from China.[1]
Daxiatitan Temporal range: Lower Cretaceous, | |
---|---|
Mounted skeleton cast | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Clade: | Dinosauria |
Clade: | Saurischia |
Clade: | †Sauropodomorpha |
Clade: | †Sauropoda |
Clade: | †Macronaria |
Clade: | †Titanosauria |
Genus: | †Daxiatitan You et al., 2008 |
Species: | †D. binglingi |
Binomial name | |
†Daxiatitan binglingi You et al., 2008 | |
Daxiatitan and its type and only species Daxiatitan binglingi were named by You Hailu, Li Daqing, Zhou Lingqi, and Ji Qiang in 2008. The holotype of D. binglingi, GSLTZP03-001, was collected from the Hekou Group, in Gansu Province, and consists of ten cervical, ten dorsal, and two caudal vertebrae, cervical and dorsal ribs, a haemal arch, a scapulocoracoid, and a femur.[1]
The genus name refers to the Daxia River, a tributary of the Yellow River that runs through the area where the type specimen was found, and the species name refers to Bingling Temple, which is located in the region.[1]
Daxiatitan was initially described as a basal titanosaur,[1] and most subsequent studies have regarded it as a basal titanosaur or as a somphospondylan close to Titanosauria in Euhelopodidae. In 2020, a phylogenetic analysis conducted by Moore et al. found that Daxiatitan and Euhelopus may form a clade with mamenchisaurids.[2]
Daxiatitan was an exceptionally large dinosaur, among the largest known from China.[1] Its length has been estimated as 23–30 meters (75–98 ft),[lower-alpha 3] and its mass has been estimated as 23 tonnes.[4] The neck of Daxiatitan is estimated to have been approximately 12 metres (39 ft) long,[lower-alpha 4] making it among the longer-necked sauropods, although still surpassed by the 15-meter neck of some of the largest mamenchisaurids and diplodocids.[5]
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