Malawisaurus
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Malawisaurus Temporal range: Aptian |
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| Display at the Royal Ontario Museum | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Order: | Saurischia |
| Suborder: | †Sauropodomorpha |
| Clade: | †Neosauropoda |
| Clade: | †Macronaria |
| Clade: | †Titanosauria |
| Clade: | †Lithostrotia |
| Genus: |
†Malawisaurus Jacobs et al., 1993 |
| Species: | †M. dixeyi |
| Binomial name | |
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Malawisaurus dixeyi (Haughton, 1928) [originally Gigantosaurus, preoccupied] |
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| Synonyms | |
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Malawisaurus (meaning "Malawi lizard") was a genus of sauropod dinosaur (specifically a titanosaurian). It lived in what is now Africa, specifically Malawi, during the Aptian age of the Early Cretaceous Period. It is one of the few titanosaurs for which skull material has been found.
It was named by Louis L. Jacobs and colleagues, Maeve Mercredi Fourie and was originally described in 1928 by Sidney H. Haughton as a species of Gigantosaurus (an invalid name for the diplodocid currently known as Tornieria). Haughton considered it closely related to the species G.robustus (later the type species of Janenschia).
Relatively small by sauropod standards, Malawisaurus reached lengths of about 16 metres (52 ft), and weighed about 10 tonnes (11 short tons). Like some other titanosaurs, ossicles have been found which are believed to represent dermal scutes that covered the skin.
The vertebrae from the middle part of its tail had elongated centra.Malawisaurus had vertebral lateral fossae that resembled shallow depressions. Fossae that similarly resemble shallow depressions are known from Saltasaurus, Alamosaurus, Aeolosaurus, and Gondwanatitan.
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