Itapeuasaurus
Itapeuasaurus (meaning "Itapeua lizard") is a genus of rebbachisaurid sauropod dinosaur from the Alcântara Formation from Maranhão in Brazil. The type and only species is Itapeuasaurus cajapioensis.[1] It would have been around 10 metres (33 ft) to 15 metres (49 ft) when fully grown.
| Itapeuasaurus | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | Saurischia |
| Suborder: | †Sauropodomorpha |
| Clade: | †Sauropoda |
| Clade: | †Eusauropoda |
| Clade: | †Neosauropoda |
| Family: | †Rebbachisauridae |
| Subfamily: | †Rebbachisaurinae |
| Genus: | †Itapeuasaurus Lindoso et al. 2019 |
| Type species | |
| †Itapeuasaurus cajapioensis Lindoso et al. 2019 | |
Discovery and naming
In November 2014, fisherman Carlos Wagner Silva discovered a fossilised humerus on the beach at Itapeua. In May 2015, paleontologist Manuel Alfredo Medeiros and his students were sent in and they secured several bones, including limb bones and vertebrae. In 2019, the species was described.[1]
Phylogeny
Lindoso et al., (2019) placed Itapeuasaurus in the Nigersaurinae as related to Demandasaurus and Nigersaurus.[1] The 2015 cladogram of Fanti et al. is shown below only differing in the fact that it incorporated Itapeuasaurus, not sampled in the analysis of Fanti et al.[2]
| Rebbachisauridae |
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References
- Lindoso, R.M., Medeiros, M.A.A., Carvalho, I.S., Pereira, A.A., Mendes, I.D., Iori, F.V., Sousa, E.P., Arcanjo, S.H.S., & Silva, T.C.M. (2019). A new rebbachisaurid (Sauropoda: Diplodocoidea) from the middle Cretaceous of northern Brazil. Cretaceous Research (in press). doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2019.104191
- Fanti, F.; Cau, A.; Cantelli, L.; Hassine, M.; Auditore, M. (2015). "New Information on Tataouinea hannibalis from the Early Cretaceous of Tunisia and Implications for the Tempo and Mode of Rebbachisaurid Sauropod Evolution". PLOS ONE. 10 (4): e123475. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0123475. PMC 4414570. PMID 25923211.
