Open Paleo

Dongyangosaurus

Lü et al., 2008 dohng-YAHNG-oh-SAWR-us

Named for Dongyang in Zhejiang Province, China, where the fossils were found, combined with Greek 'sauros' meaning 'lizard'.

113.2–89.8 million years ago Albian–Turonian, Early Cretaceous–Late Cretaceous
Early Cretaceous and Late Cretaceous stages

Dongyangosaurus is a genus of titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur from the Cretaceous. The only species is Dongyangosaurus sinensis, from which only a single fragmentary skeleton is known, coming from the Zhejiang province of eastern China. It was described and named by Lü Junchang and colleagues. Like other sauropods, Dongyangosaurus would have been a large quadrupedal herbivore.

Under dispute

Placed at Somphospondyli incertae sedis. The describing paper (Lü and colleagues, 2008) referred Dongyangosaurus to Titanosauria as a basal titanosaur by comparison, though its formal systematics stopped at Titanosauriformes; the most recent dedicated analysis (Han and colleagues, 2024) recovers it within Titanosauria in an eastern-Asian clade with Andesaurus, Huabeisaurus, Baotianmansaurus and others; but D'Emic (2012) considered these Chinese taxa to bear euhelopodid (non-titanosaurian somphospondylan) features. Somphospondyli is the least-inclusive clade all these hypotheses accept.

Diagnosis

  1. Distinct fossa formed by intraprezygapophyseal lamina and centroprezygapophyseal lamina on ventral surfaces of prezygapophyses of dorsal vertebrae
  2. Subsidiary spinodiapophyseal laminae (sspdl) on lateral surface of short dorsal neural spines forming triangular concavities; similar concavities also on lateral surface of postzygapophyses of dorsal and anterior caudal vertebrae
  3. Dorsal neural spines short and bifurcated
  4. Pubis shorter than ischium, with elongated and nearly closed obturator foramen
  5. Both anterior and posterior articular surfaces of anterior caudal vertebrae only slightly concave (not strongly opisthocoelous)
  6. Preacetabular lobe of ilium greatly expanded dorsoventrally and extending anterolaterally

Species

Dongyangosaurus sinensis Lü et al., 2008

Type species

From Latin 'sinensis' meaning 'from China', referring to the country of discovery.

Holotype
DYM 04888 , Dongyang Museum
Material
Partial postcranial skeleton: 10 posterior dorsal vertebrae, complete sacral spines, first and second caudal vertebrae, parts of dorsal ribs, both ilia, complete pubis and ischium
Horizon
Jinhua Formation, Albian–Turonian, Early Cretaceous–Late Cretaceous , 113.2–89.8 million years ago
Locality
Baidian Village, Zhejiang, China

References

  1. 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

    Gives the taxon as from the early Late Cretaceous Jinhua Formation.

    mannion2019b
  2. Lü, J.; Azuma, Y.; Chen, R.; Zheng, W.; Jin, X. (2008). A new titanosauriform sauropod from the Early Late Cretaceous of Dongyang, Zhejiang Province. Acta Geologica Sinica (English Edition) 82(2): 225-235. doi:10.1111/j.1755-6724.2008.tb00572.x

    Describing paper; referred Dongyangosaurus to Titanosauria as a basal titanosaur by comparison, with its formal systematics stopping at Titanosauriformes.

    lü2008b
  3. 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

    Considered the eastern-Asian sauropods, Dongyangosaurus among them, to bear euhelopodid (non-titanosaurian somphospondylan) features.

    d'emic2012b
  4. Paul, G. S. (2024). The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs (3rd ed.). Princeton University Press.

    Source of the mass estimate.

    paul2024a
  5. Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Sauropods. Princeton University Press.

    Source of the hip height estimate.

    jones2026b
  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

    Recovered Dongyangosaurus within Titanosauria in an eastern-Asian clade with allies.

    han2024a