[D] Europasaurus holgeri [sG] [T]
Describer
Mateus, Laven & Knotschke, 2006
Time
Jurassic Late Kimmeridgian
Classification
Saurischia Sauropodomorpha Sauropoda [Neosauropoda] [Macronaria]
Diet
Herbivore
Fossilsite
Langenberg quarry7, Lower Saxony Basin, Oker near Goslar, Niedersachsen, northern Germany
Length
6,2 meter
Info
Genus - Typespecies - Skull
Etymology
The generic name means ‘reptile from Europe’, after Europe and the Greek sauros for lizard; holgeri after Holger Lüdtke, who discovered the first bones.
Holotype
DFMMh/FV 291: disarticulated left premaxilla; right maxilla; right quadratojugal; occipital region; left laterosphenoid– orbitosphenoid complex; right surangular; right angular; left dentary; teeth; cervical and sacral vertebrae; and cervical and dorsal ribs of one individual (see Fig. 1 and Supplementary Information). DFMMh/FV: Dinosaurier-Freilichtmuseum Munchehagen/Verein zur Forderung der Niedersachsischen Palaontologie (e.V.), Germany. Referred material. Cranial and postcranial elements of at least ten individuals, preserved as isolated bones to partially articulated skeletons, including young juveniles (estimated body length 1.7 m) to adults (body length 6.2 m DFMMh/FV 415).
Phylogenetic analysis indicates that Europasaurus holgeri gen. et sp. nov. is a macronarian that is more derived than Camarasaurus, and is the sistergroup of Brachiosauridae and all (more-derived) Titanosauromorpha. It also indicates that the diminutive body size of Europasaurus is derived