Open Paleo

Fushanosaurus

Wang et al., 2019 foo-SHAN-o-SOR-us

Fushan lizard; named after the Fushan Museum in China where its remains are stored, combined with Greek sauros (lizard)

168.2–154.8 million years ago Bathonian–Oxfordian, Middle Jurassic–Late Jurassic
Middle Jurassic and Late Jurassic stages

Fushanosaurus is a genus of sauropod dinosaur from the Shishugou Formation from Xinjiang Province in China. The type and only species is Fushanosaurus qitaiensis (Chinese: 奇台傅山龙; pinyin: Qítái Fùshānlóng). It is solely known from the holotype specimen FH000101, a complete right femur.

Under dispute

Fushanosaurus is known only from a single femur and was described as a gigantic titanosauriform (Wang and colleagues, 2019). A subsequent reassessment of mamenchisaurid anatomy noted that its purported titanosauriform features are more broadly distributed among eusauropods, raising the possibility that it is a mamenchisaurid (Moore and colleagues, 2023).

Diagnosis

  1. Angle between the virtually extensional line through the most lateral bulge edge of the proximal femur and the dorsally extensional line of the femoral head is approximately 127°
  2. Fourth trochanter well developed and mound-shaped in lateral view
  3. Fourth trochanter positioned proximally above midpoint of femoral shaft, close to the medial side
  4. Intercondyloid fossa deep and U-shaped
  5. Combined joint surfaces of the distal condyles are perpendicular (nearly orthogonal) to the long axis of the femoral shaft

Species

Fushanosaurus qitaiensis Wang et al., 2019

Type species

Named for Qitai, the city in Xinjiang Province, China, near where the holotype was discovered.

Holotype
FH000101 , Fushan Museum
Material
Nearly complete right femur.
Horizon
Shishugou Formation, Bathonian–Oxfordian, Middle Jurassic–Late Jurassic , 168.2–154.8 million years ago
Locality
20 km northeast of Jiangjunmiao, Xinjiang, China Wang and colleagues (2019) place the holotype about 20 km northeast of Jiangjunmiao, in Qitai County, and give no level within the formation.

References

  1. Wang, X. R.; Wu, W. H.; Li, T.; Ji, Q.; Li, Y. X.; Guo, J. F. (2019). A new titanosauriform dinosaur (Dinosauria: Sauropoda) from Late Jurassic of Junggar Basin, Xinjiang. Global Geology 38(3): 581-588. doi:10.3969/j.issn.1004-5589.2019.03.001 wang2019b
  2. Moore, A. J.; Barrett, P. M.; Upchurch, P.; Liao, C. C.; Ye, Y.; Hao, B.; Xu, X. (2023). Re-assessment of the Late Jurassic eusauropod Mamenchisaurus sinocanadorum Russell and Zheng, 1993, and the evolution of exceptionally long necks in mamenchisaurids. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 21(1). doi:10.1080/14772019.2023.2171818

    Reassessed mamenchisaurid anatomy, finding Fushanosaurus's purported titanosauriform features broadly distributed

    moore2023a