Saturday, January 13, 2018

[Paleontology • 2018] Sibirotitan astrosacralis • A New Sauropod dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous Ilek Formation, Western Siberia, Russia


Sibirotitan astrosacralis
Averianov, Ivantsov, Skutschas, Faingertz & Leshchinskiy, 2018

Сибиротитан звездокрестцовый  DOI: 10.1016/j.geobios.2017.12.004

Abstract
Sibirotitan astrosacralis nov. gen., nov. sp., is described based on isolated but possibly associated cervical and dorsal vertebrae, sacrum, and previously published pedal elements from the Lower Cretaceous (Barremian?) Ilek Formation at Shestakovo 1 locality (Kemerovo Province, Western Siberia, Russia). Some isolated sauropod teeth from the Shestakovo 1 locality are referred to the same taxon. The phylogenetic parsimony analyses place Sibirotitan astrosacralis nov. gen., nov. sp., as a non-titanosaurian somphospondyl titanosauriform. The new taxon exhibits four titanosauriform and one somphospondylan synapomorphies, and one autapomorphy – a hyposphene ridge that extends between the neural canal and the postzygapophyses. It differs from all other Somphospondyli by having only five sacral vertebrae. The new taxon shares with Euhelopus and Epachtosaurus sacral ribs that converge towards the middle of the sacrum in dorsal view. Sibirotitan astrosacralis nov. gen., nov. sp., is only the second sauropod taxon from Russia and one of the oldest titanosauriform described so far in Asia.

Keywords: Sibirotitan astrosacralis nov. gen., nov. sp.; Titanosauriformes; Sauropoda; Phylogenetic parsimony analysis; Early Cretaceous; Siberia; Asia



Dinosauria Owen, 1842
Saurischia Seeley, 1887

Sauropoda Marsh, 1878
Titanosauriformes Salgado et al., 1997

Genus Sibirotitan nov. gen.

Derivation of the name: from Siberia and Greek Tιτάν (titan), a member of the second order of divine beings, descended from the primordial deities and preceding the Olympian deities in Greek mythology.

Type and only species: Sibirotitan astrosacralis nov. gen., nov. sp.

Derivation of the name: from Greek αστρον (star) and Latin os sacrum (“sacred bone”), an allusion to the unusual configuration of sacral ribs which radiate, in dorsal view, from the middle of the sacrum as the rays of a star.


 S.V. Ivantsov digging out the posterior cervical vertebra PM TGU 120/8-Sh1-3 from the Malyi Yar outcrop in 2008 (Kemerovo Province, Russia). Photo by S.V. Leshchinskiy.

  

  


 Alexander Averianov, Stepan Ivantsov, Pavel Skutschas, Alexey Faingertz and Sergey Leshchinskiy. 2018. A New Sauropod dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous Ilek Formation, Western Siberia, Russia. Geobios. In Press.  DOI: 10.1016/j.geobios.2017.12.004



Averianov, A.O., Voronkevich, A.V., Maschenko, E.N., Leshchinskiy, S.V., and Fayngertz, A.V. 2002. A sauropod foot from the Early Cretaceous of Western Siberia, Russia. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 47 (1): 117–124.  DOI: 10.1.1.492.1575 


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