OMEISAURUS
a plant-eating mamenchisaurine sauropod dinosaur from the Late Jurassic of China.
Pronunciation: OH-may-SOR-us
Meaning: Mount Emei lizard
Author/s: Young (
1939)
Synonyms: Zigongosaurus?
First Discovery: Sichuan, China
Discovery Chart Position: #177
Omeisaurus junghsiensis
Etymology
Omeisaurus is derived from "Emeishan" (the mountain where it was discovered) and the Greek "sauros" (lizard). Emeishan—aka Mount O-mei or Mount Emei—from the Chinese "emai" (lofty) and "shan" (mountain), is one of the four Buddhist sacred mountains of China, but 1,000+ meters higher than the other three.
The
species epithet,
junghsiensis, means "from Junghsien" in Latin.
Discovery
The first remins of
Omeisaurus junghsiensis were discovered in the Daanzhai Member of the Lower Shaximiao (Xiashaximiao) Formation, Hsikuashan (aka Xiguashan), Junghsien, Sichuan Province, China, by C.C Young and C.L. Camp in 1936.
The
holotype (IVPP) is a skeleton that was extremely fragmentary to begin with but much of it was lost in transprt during WW2. Dong allocated a well-preserved skull (CV-001) as a neotype.
Estimations
Timeline:
Era: Mesozoic
Epoch: Late Jurassic
Stage: Bathonian-Oxfordian
Age range: 168-156 mya
Stats:
Est. max. length: 15 meters
Est. max. hip height: 4 meters
Est. max. weight: 5 tons
Diet: Herbivore
Other Species?
Omeisaurus changshouensis—"from Changshou"—(Young, 1958).
Omeisaurus fuxiensis—"from Fuxien"—(Dong, Zhou & Zhang, 1983)
is based on CV00267 - a partial skeleton from Wujiaba quarry, in the Upper Shaximiao (Shangshaximiao) Formation of Wujiaba, Zigong, China. At around 11 meters in length it's the smallest known species of
Omeisaurus and has the lowest skull and slimmest jaws. It may be synonymous with
Mamenchisaurus fuxiensis.
Omeisaurus luoquanensis—"from Luoquan"—(He, Li & Cai, 1988).
Omeisaurus tianfuensis—"from Tianfu"—(He, Li, Cai & Gao, 1984)
is based on ZDM T7501 - a skeleton from the Dashanpu Dinosaur Quarry, Lower Shaximiao (Xiashaximiao ) Formation, Jingyan, Sichuan, China. It has the longest neck of the genus. In fact, amongst all known dinosaurs only the neck of
Mamenchisaurus is longer.
Omeisaurus zigongensis—"from Zigong"—(Tanimoto, 1988).
Omeisaurus gongjianensis—"from Gongjia"—was only briefly mentioned in 1996 by Zhang and Chen who suggested it may be a specimen of
Mamenchisaurus.
Omeisaurus jiaoi—(Jiang, Li, Peng, & Ye, 2011)—is based on ZDM 5050 - a nearly complete skeleton with tall, large dorsal vertebrae discovered in the Lower Shaximiao (Xiashaximiao) Formation of Zigong, China.
Omeisaurus maoianus—"for Professor Mao Zhaoxi"—(Tang, Jin, Kang, & Zhang, 2001) is based on NM N8510 - a partial skeleton from the Lower Shaximiao (Xiashaximiao) Formation, Jingyan, Sichuan, China.
References
• Young CC (1937) "New Triassic and Cretaceous reptiles in China".
Acta Geologica Sinica 17(1): 109-120.
DOI: 10.1111/j.1755-6724.1937.mp17001008.x.
• Young CC (1939) "
On a new Sauropoda, with notes on other fragmentary reptiles from Szechuan".
Bulletin of the Geological Society of China, 19(3): 279-315.
• Young CC (1958) "New sauropods from China".
Vertebrata PalAsiatica, 2(1): 1-29.
• Dong Z, Zhou S and Zhang Y (1983) "
Dinosaurs from the Jurassic of Sichuan".
Palaeontologica Sinica, New Series C, 162(23): 1-136. [English translation by Will Downs and Suojin Jin.]
• He X, Li K, Cai K and Gao Y (1984) "
Omeisaurus tianfuensis—a new species of Omeisaurus from Dashanpu, Zigong, Sichuan".
Journal of Chengdu College of Geology, (suppl. 2): 13-32.
• Dong Z, Peng G and Huang D (1988) "The Discovery of the bony tail club of sauropods".
Vertebrata PalAsiatica, 27(3): 219-224.
• He X, Li K and Cai K (1988) "The Middle Jurassic dinosaur fauna from Dashanpu, Zigong, Sichuan".
Volume IV. Sauropod dinosaurs (2): 1-143. Omeisaurus tianfuensis. Sichuan Publishing House of Science and Technology.
• Zhang Y and Chen W (1996) "Preliminary research on the classification of sauropods from Sichuan Basin, China".
In Morales (ed.) "The Continental Jurassic". Museum of Northern Arizona Bulletin, 60: 97-107.
• Tang F, Jin X-S, Kang X-M and Zhang G-J (2001) "
Omeisaurus maoianus: a Complete Sauropoda From Jingyan, Sichuan".
Beijing: China Ocean Press. 1-128.
• Jiang S, Li F, Peng G-Z and Ye Y (2011) "
A New Species Of Omeisaurus From The Middle Jurassic Of Zigong, Sichuan".
Vertebrata Palasiatica, 49(2): 185-194.
• Paul GS (2016) "
The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs: Second Edition".
• Tan C, Xiao M, Dai H, Hu X-F, Li N, Ma Q-Y, Wei Z-Y, Yu H-D, Xiong C, Peng G-Z, Jiang S, Ren X-X and You H-L (2021) "A new species of
Omeisaurus (Dinosauria: Sauropoda) from the Middle Jurassic of Yunyang, Chongqing, China".
Historical Biology, 33(9): 1817-1829. DOI: 10.1080/08912963.2020.1743286.
• D' Angelo J (2021) "
A Maze of Omeisaurus: Observations on the Taxonomic Status of Omeisaurus junghsiensis".
Society of Vertebrate Paleontology Meeting: 94.
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OMEISAURUS :: from DinoChecker's dinosaur archive".
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