You, H., Li, D., Zhou, L., and Ji, Q. (2006) Huanghetitan liujiaxiaensis, a new sauropod dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous Hekou Group of Lanzhou Basin, Gansu Province, China. Geological Review 52(5): 668-674.

Abstract

Sauropod dinosaur material excavated from one quarry in the Lower Cretaceous Hekou Group of the Lanzhou Basin, Gansu Province in 2004 pertain to a single, new taxon and are described. Unique features of its sacrum, including an extremely low neural spine with a remarkably transversely expanded distal end, supports the attribution of this material to a new genus and species of sauropod, Huanghetitan liujiaxiaensis gen. et sp. nov. Cladistic analysis strongly support Huanghetitan gen. nov. as a basal member of the Titanosauriformes.

Dinosaurs have only be recntly been discovered in the Lower Cretaceous Hekou Group in the Lanzhou Basin, but the great promise of these strata for dinosaur research may now be recognized due to largely to work by field crews from the Fossil Research and Developement Center of the Third Geology and Mineral Resources Exploration Academy of Gansu Province.

Beginning in the late 1990\\\\\\\'s (Li et al, 2002, Zhang et al, 2006) , numerous dinosaur footprints were discovered in the western part of the basin, and their importance led to the establishement and opening of the Liujiaxia National Dinosaur Geopark in 2005.

The first Hekou Group dinosaur body fossils were discovered in the southern part of the basin in 2002, and one quarry excavated in 2003 yielded the holotype of Lanzhousaurus magnidens the largests-toothed herbivorous dinosaur in the world (You et al., 2005).

Fieldwork has continued to the present, and a new vertebrate fossil assemblage, including fishes, turtles, and various dinosaurs, is being revealed. Among the quarries excavated in 2004, Quarry 2 preserved partial sauropod skeletons. This material has since been prepared, the material exhibits some unique features that warrant the erection of a new taxon.

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