Open Paleo

Daxiatitan

You et al., 2008 dah-SHYAH-TIE-tan

Named for the Daxia River (Da Xia He) in Gansu, China, combined with Greek 'titan' meaning 'giant', in reference to the animal's large size.

125.8–113.2 million years ago Barremian–Aptian, Early Cretaceous
Early Cretaceous stages

Daxiatitan is a genus of sauropod dinosaur known from the Lower Cretaceous of Gansu, China. Its type and only species is Daxiatitan binglingi. It is known from a single partial skeleton consisting of most of the neck and back vertebrae, two tail vertebrae, a shoulder blade, and a thigh bone. At the time of its discovery in 2008, Daxiatitan was regarded as potentially the largest known dinosaur from China.

Under dispute

Daxiatitan has been recovered as a euhelopodid, non-titanosaurian somphospondylan (D'Emic, 2012; Gallina and colleagues, 2021; Moore and colleagues, 2020) and as a basal titanosaur close to Lithostrotia, usually with Xianshanosaurus (Mannion and colleagues, 2019; Han and colleagues, 2024), with its describers favoring a titanosaurian identity (You and colleagues, 2008).

Diagnosis

  1. Cervical vertebrae with cranial prezygapophyseal articular facets offset caudally such that non-articular bone comprises the cranialmost portions of the prezygapophysis.
  2. Distal margin of scapular body lies oblique relative to its long axis.
  3. Femoral distal condyles beveled ~10° dorsolaterally with respect to femoral shaft.
  4. Femoral distal condyles directed caudomedially-craniolaterally in distal view.

Species

Daxiatitan binglingi You et al., 2008

Type species

Named for Bingling Temple, a historic site located in the region of Gansu Province, China, where the holotype was discovered.

Holotype
GSLTZP03-001 , The Fossil Research and Development Center of the Third Geology and Mineral Resources Exploration Academy of Gansu Provincial Bureau of Geo-exploration and Mineral Development
Material
Caudalmost 10 cervical vertebrae, 10 dorsal vertebrae, two proximal caudal vertebrae, partial cervical and dorsal ribs, one hemal arch, right scapula, right coracoid, and right femur.
Horizon
upper Hekou Group, Barremian–Aptian, Early Cretaceous , 125.8–113.2 million years ago
Locality
Zhongpu, Gansu, China

Synonyms of the genus

Name Type Reason
Gansutitan nomen nudum Informal name used for material later formally described as Daxiatitan.

References

  1. You, H. L.; Li, D. Q.; Zhou, L. Q.; Ji, Q. (2008). Daxiatitan binglingi: a giant sauropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of China. Gansu Geology 17(4): 1-10.

    Named Daxiatitan and recovered it as a basal titanosaur.

    you2008a
  2. Li, L. G.; Li, D. Q.; You, H. L.; Dodson, P. (2014). A New Titanosaurian Sauropod from the Hekou Group (Lower Cretaceous) of the Lanzhou-Minhe Basin, Gansu Province, China. PLoS ONE 9(1): e85979. Public Library of Science (PLoS). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0085979

    Places the quarry that yielded Daxiatitan near the town of Zhongpu, in the upper Hekou Group.

    li2014a
  3. Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Sauropods. Princeton University Press.

    Source of the hip height estimate.

    jones2026b
  4. Mannion, P. D.; Upchurch, P.; Jin, X.; Zheng, W. (2019). New information on the Cretaceous sauropod dinosaurs of Zhejiang Province, China: impact on Laurasian titanosauriform phylogeny and biogeography. Royal Society Open Science 6(8): 191057. doi:10.1098/rsos.191057

    Recovered Daxiatitan just outside Lithostrotia within Titanosauria under equal weights (sister to Xianshanosaurus); named it among the East Asian titanosaur radiation.

    mannion2019b
  5. Moore, A. J.; Upchurch, P.; Barrett, P. M.; Clark, J. M.; Xu, X. (2020). Osteology of Klamelisaurus gobiensis (Dinosauria, Eusauropoda) and the evolutionary history of Middle-Late Jurassic Chinese sauropods. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 18(16): 1299-1393. doi:10.1080/14772019.2020.1759706

    Klamelisaurus osteology/phylogeny paper recovered Daxiatitan as a euhelopodid.

    moore2020a
  6. Han, F.; Yang, L.; Lou, F.; Sullivan, C.; Xu, X.; Qiu, W.; Liu, H.; Yu, J.; Wu, R.; Ke, Y.; Xu, M.; Hu, J.; Lu, P. (2024). A new titanosaurian sauropod, Gandititan cavocaudatus gen. et sp. nov., from the Late Cretaceous of southern China. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 22(1): 2293038. Informa UK Limited. doi:10.1080/14772019.2023.2293038

    New titanosaur description recovered Daxiatitan as a basal titanosaur.

    han2024a
  7. D'Emic, M. D. (2012). The early evolution of titanosauriform sauropod dinosaurs. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 166: 624-671. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2012.00853.x

    Recovered Daxiatitan as a euhelopodid.

    d'emic2012b
  8. Gallina, P. A.; Canale, J. I.; Carballido, J. L. (2021). The Earliest Known Titanosaur Sauropod Dinosaur. Ameghiniana 58(1). Asociacion Paleontologica Argentina. doi:10.5710/amgh.20.08.2020.3376

    Recovered Daxiatitan as a euhelopodid, with Huabeisaurus and Xianshanosaurus.

    gallina2021a