Open Paleo

Europasaurus

Sander et al., 2006 yoo-roh-pah-sore-us

From Europa (Europe, named after the Phoenician princess in Greek mythology) + Greek sauros, 'lizard'; means 'Europe lizard', referring to its discovery in Germany

154.8–149.2 million years ago Kimmeridgian, Late Jurassic
Late Jurassic stages

Europasaurus is a genus of dwarf sauropod dinosaur from the Late Jurassic Süntel Formation of Lower Saxony, Germany. The type and only species, Europasaurus holgeri, is notable for being among the smallest known adult sauropods, likely the result of insular dwarfism on the Late Jurassic European archipelago.

Under dispute

Europasaurus is consistently recovered as a basal macronarian, but its precise placement is disputed: the analyses of D'Emic (2012) and Mannion and colleagues (2013, 2017) recover it as the basalmost brachiosaurid, whereas Carballido and Sander (2013) and Sander and colleagues (2006) place it as a basal camarasauromorph outside both Camarasauridae and Brachiosauridae. Jones (2026) leaves the family-level placement open.

Diagnosis

  1. Nasal process of premaxillary projecting anterodorsally.
  2. Medial notch on posterior dorsal margin of cervical vertebral centra.
  3. Scapular acromion with a prominent posterior projection.
  4. Transverse width of astragalus twice its dorsoventral height and anteroposterior length.
  5. Wing-shaped posterior process of postorbital slightly longer and wider than the anterior process (differs from Camarasaurus where it is much shorter).

Species

Europasaurus holgeri Sander et al., 2006

Type species

Named for Holger Lüdtke, the private fossil collector who discovered the first sauropod tooth at the Langenberg quarry in Germany in 1998.

Holotype
DFMMh/FV 291 , Dinosaurier-Freilichtmuseum
Material
Partial skeleton including vertebrae, limb bones
Horizon
83 Bed, Süntel Formation, Kimmeridgian, Late Jurassic , 154.8–149.2 million years ago
Locality
Langenberg Quarry, Lower Saxony, Germany

Notable specimens

  • DFMMh/FV 415

    Dinosaurier-Freilichtmuseum largest individual

    A partial femur representing the largest known Europasaurus individual at a body length of 6.2 meters. Uniquely among the specimens it shows lines of arrested growth and partly lamellar internal bone, indicating it died after reaching full adult body size and securing the dwarf taxon's maximum size.

    Sander et al. (2006)

  • DFMMh/FV 009

    Dinosaurier-Freilichtmuseum ontogeny

    The youngest and smallest known individual at 1.75 meters long. It lacks growth marks and laminar bone tissue, identifying it as a young juvenile and anchoring the histological growth series used to show Europasaurus was a true dwarf rather than a juvenile of a larger taxon.

    Sander et al. (2006)

References

  1. Sander, P. M.; Mateus, O.; Laven, T.; Knötschke, N. (2006). Bone histology indicates insular dwarfism in a new Late Jurassic sauropod dinosaur. Nature 441: 739-741. doi:10.1038/nature04633 sander2006a
  2. Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Sauropods. Princeton University Press.

    Source of the hip height estimate.

    jones2026b
  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

    Titanosauriform analysis bearing on Europasaurus’s basal macronarian placement.

    d'emic2012b
  4. Carballido, J. L.; Sander, M. P. (2013). Postcranial axial skeleton of Europasaurus holgeri (Dinosauria, Sauropoda) from the Upper Jurassic of Germany: implications for sauropod ontogeny and phylogenetic relationships of basal Macronaria. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 12(3): 335-387. doi:10.1080/14772019.2013.764935

    Postcranial axial skeleton study recovers Europasaurus holgeri as a basal camarasauromorph, outside both Camarasauridae and Brachiosauridae.

    carballido2013a
  5. Mannion, P. D.; Upchurch, P.; Barnes, R. N.; Mateus, O. (2013). Osteology of the Late Jurassic Portuguese sauropod dinosaur Lusotitan atalaiensis (Macronaria) and the evolutionary history of basal titanosauriforms. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 168(1): 98-206. Oxford University Press (OUP). doi:10.1111/zoj.12029

    Bearing on the basal macronarian placement of Europasaurus.

    mannion2013a
  6. Evers, S. W.; Wings, O. (2020). Late Jurassic theropod dinosaur bones from the Langenberg Quarry (Lower Saxony, Germany) provide evidence for several theropod lineages in the central European archipelago. PeerJ 8: e8437. PeerJ. doi:10.7717/peerj.8437

    Corrects the Europasaurus horizon to bed 83, the figure earlier papers print as bed 93.

    evers2020a
  7. Zuo, F.; Heimhofer, U.; Huck, S.; Luppold, F. W.; Wings, O.; Erbacher, J. (2017). Sedimentology and depositional sequences of a Kimmeridgian carbonate ramp system, Lower Saxony Basin, Northern Germany. Facies 64(1). Springer. doi:10.1007/s10347-017-0513-0

    Assigns the Langenberg Kimmeridgian section to the Süntel Formation.

    zuo2017a
  8. Mannion, P. D.; Allain, R.; Moine, O. (2017). The earliest known titanosauriform sauropod dinosaur and the evolution of Brachiosauridae. PeerJ 5: e3217. PeerJ. doi:10.7717/peerj.3217 mannion2017a