Asiatosaurus (meaning "Asian lizard") is an extinct genus of herbivoroussauropoddinosaur which lived during the Early Cretaceous in Mongolia and China.[1] The type species is known only from teeth, making it difficult to rely on information until more specimens are found to expand our knowledge, and another species is known, also based on scant remains; both are now classified as nomina dubia.
Species
Asiatosaurus mongoliensis
The type species, A. mongoliensis, was described by Osborn, in 1924, based on AMNH 6264, a broken tooth from the Öösh Formation of Övörkhangai Province, Mongolia.[2] It was the first sauropod genus named from East-Asia.
A. kwangshiensis, the second species, was described by Hou, Yeh and Zhao, in 1975 based on IVPP V4794, 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. in 1975,[4] and considered a euhelopodid by Poropat et al. in 2022.[5]
References
^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
^Osborn, H.F. (1924). "Sauropoda and Theropoda from the Lower Cretaceous of Mongolia". American Museum Novitates (128): 1–7.
^Dong (1973a) Dong ZM. Cretaceous stratigraphy of Wuerho District, Dsungar (Zunggar) Basin. Reports of Paleontological Expedition to Sinkiang (II): Pterosaurian Fauna from Wuerho, Sinkiang. Memoirs of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology Academia Sinica. 1973a;11:1–7.