Sonidosaurus

Sonidosaurus (meaning "Sonid lizard", after Sonid, the large geographical area that includes the type locality^[2]) is a genus of sauropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous. It was a titanosaur which lived in what is now Inner Mongolia. The type species, Sonidosaurus saihangaobiensis, was described by Xu, Zhang, Tan, Zhao, and Tan in 2006. It was a small titanosaur, about 9 meters (30 ft) long.^[2] It was first discovered in the Saihangaobi, Iren Dabasu (Erlian) Formation, in 2001^[2] in a quarry which would later yield the remains of Gigantoraptor.^[3]

Sonidosaurus Temporal range: Late Cretaceous (Turonian – Santonian) 93.9–83.6 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N [1]
Reconstructed skeleton
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Clade:	Dinosauria
Clade:	Saurischia
Clade:	†Sauropodomorpha
Clade:	†Sauropoda
Clade:	†Macronaria
Clade:	†Titanosauria
Clade:	†Lithostrotia
Genus:	†Sonidosaurus
Species:	†S. saihangaobiensis
Binomial name
†Sonidosaurus saihangaobiensis Xu et al., 2006

Classification

In a 2017 review of Asian titanosaurs, Sonidosaurus was considered a lithostrotian titanosaur, with possible saltasaurid affinities. In particular, it shared with saltasaurids and the Bor Guve titanosaur a posterior centrodiapophyseal lamina on its dorsal vertebrae.^[1]

Paleoenvironment

Sonidosaurus in the only known sauropod of the Iren Dabasu Fauna. The largest theropods that shared habitat with Sonidosaurus were the oviraptorosaur Gigantoraptor and the tyrannosauroid Alectrosaurus. Gilmoreosaurus lived in the same place, it is the largest known ornithischian from the fauna.^[4]

References

1. Averianov, Alexander; Sues, Hans-Dieter (January 2017). "Review of Cretaceous sauropod dinosaurs from Central Asia". Cretaceous Research. 69: 184–197. Bibcode:2017CrRes..69..184A. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2016.09.006. ISSN 0195-6671.
2. Xu Xing; Zhang Xiaohong; Tan Qingei; Zhao Xijin; Tan Lin (2006). "A new titanosaurian sauropod from Late Cretaceous of Nei Mongol, China" (PDF). Acta Geologica Sinica. 80 (1): 20–26. Bibcode:2006AcGlS..80...20X. doi:10.1111/j.1755-6724.2006.tb00790.x. S2CID 129970315. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2024-06-11.
3. Xing, X.; Tan, Q.; Wang, J.; Zhao, X.; Tan, L. (2007). "A gigantic bird-like dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of China". Nature. 447 (7146): 844−847. Bibcode:2007Natur.447..844X. doi:10.1038/nature05849. PMID 17565365. S2CID 6649123.
4. Xu Xing; Tan Qingwei; Wang Jianmin; Zhao Xijin; Tan Lin (2007). "A gigantic bird-like dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of China (Supplementary information)" (PDF). Nature. 447 (7146): 844–7. Bibcode:2007Natur.447..844X. doi:10.1038/nature05849. PMID 17565365. S2CID 6649123. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-10.

• Dinosaurs portal

External links

• "Sonidosaurus saihangaobiensis". Dinodata.de (in German). Archived from the original on 2023-12-05.