Euhelopus zdanskyi
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Euhelopus Temporal range: Early Cretaceous, 129–113 Ma |
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| Reconstructed skeleton in Japan | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Order: | Saurischia |
| Suborder: | †Sauropodomorpha |
| Clade: | †Neosauropoda |
| Clade: | †Macronaria |
| Clade: | †Titanosauriformes |
| Clade: | †Somphospondyli |
| Family: | †Euhelopodidae |
| Genus: | †Euhelopus |
| Type species | |
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†Helopus zdanskyi Wiman, 1929 |
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Euhelopus is a genus of titanosauriform sauropod dinosaur that lived between 129 and 113 million years ago during the Early Cretaceous in what is now Shandong Province in China. It was a large quadrupedal herbivore. Unlike most other sauropods, Euhelopus had longer forelegs than hind legs. This discovery was paleontologically significant because it represented the first dinosaur scientifically investigated from China: seen in 1913, rediscovered in 1922, and excavated in 1923. Unlike most sauropod specimens, it has a relatively complete skull.
Euhelopus has since its original description often been considered a rather large sauropod. It has been thought to weigh about fifteen to twenty tonnes and attain an adult length of 15 m (49 ft). Later estimates have down-sized this considerably. In 2016, Gregory S. Paul estimated the body length at eleven metres, the weight at 3.5 tonnes.
The original diagnosis by Wiman is outdated. A diagnosis is a statement of the anatomical features of an organism (or group) that collectively distinguish it from all other organisms. Some of the features in a diagnosis may be autapomorphies. An autapomorphy is a distinctive anatomical feature that is unique to an organism or group.
According to a study by Jeffrey A. Wilson and Paul Upchurch in 2009, Euhelopus can be distinguished based on, among others, these autapomorphies:
The original discovery was by a Catholic priest, Father R. Mertens, in 1913. He showed some remains he had excavated to the German mining engineer Gustav Behaghel who in 1916 sent three vertebrae to the head of the Geological Survey of China Ding Wenjiang ("V.K. Ting"). This was probably the first occasion dinosaur bones from China were scientifically studied. With help of another Catholic priest, Father Alfred Kaschel, the site was rediscovered in November 1922 by Johan Gunnar Andersson and Tan Xichou. In March 1923, the Austrian student Otto Zdansky excavated two skeletons at sites about three kilometres apart.
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Wikipedia