[D] Dicraeosaurus hansemanni [Su] [sG] [T]
Describer
Janensch, 1914
Time
Jurassic Late Kimmeridgian
Classification
Saurischia Sauropodomorpha Sauropoda Diplodocidae Dicraeosaurinae
Diet
Herbivore
Fossilsite
Middle Tendaguru Beds, Mtwara, Tanzania
Length
20 meter
Info
Genus - Typespecies - Skull
Dicraeosaurus hansemanni (Janensch, 1914) > Dicraeosaurus sattleri (Janensch, 1914)
Skeleton lacking skull and fore limbs, 2 partial skeletons, isolated vertebrae and limb elements.
Dicraeosaurus from the Upper Jurassic of Tanzania represents anaberrant diplodocid, the vertebrae of which maintain some promitive cetiosaurid characters but some very derived ones as well. The most suprising is the maintenance of only 12 cervical vertebrae, an extreme condition directly opposite to that of the other aberrant branch typified by the long-necked Mamenchisaurus.