Quaesitosaurus

Quaesitosaurus (meaning "extraordinary lizard") is a genus of nemegtosaurid sauropod containing only the type species, Q. orientalis, described by Kurzanov and Bannikov in 1983.[1] It lived from 85 to 70 million years ago during the Late Cretaceous (Santonian to Campanian ages). Its fossils, consisting solely of a partial skull, were found in the Barun Goyot Formation near Shar Tsav, Mongolia.[1] With long, low and horse-like with frontally located peg-teeth, the skull of Quaesitosaurus is similar enough to the skull of Diplodocus and its kin to have prompted informed speculation that the missing body was formed like those of diplodocids.[2]

Quaesitosaurus
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, 85–70 Ma
Diagram showing known elements of the skull in brown
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Clade: Saurischia
Suborder: †Sauropodomorpha
Clade: †Sauropoda
Clade: †Eusauropoda
Clade: †Neosauropoda
Clade: †Macronaria
Clade: †Titanosauria
Clade: †Lithostrotia
Family: †Nemegtosauridae
Genus: †Quaesitosaurus
Kurzanov & Bannikov, 1983
Species:
†Q. orientalis
Binomial name
†Quaesitosaurus orientalis
Kurzanov & Bannikov, 1983
Restoration with hypothetical body

It is possible that Nemegtosaurus, also known from only skull material, is a very close relative of Quaesitosaurus.[2]

References
  1. Kurzanov, S. and Bannikov, A. (1983). "A new sauropod from the Upper Cretaceous of Mongolia". Paleontologicheskii Zhurnal 2: 90–96.
  2. Hunt, A.P., Meyer, C.A., Lockley, M.G., and Lucas, S.G. (1994) "Archaeology, toothmarks and sauropod dinosaur taphonomy". Gaia: Revista de Geociencias, Museu Nacional de Historia Natural, Lisbon, Portugal, 10: 225–232.


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