Open Paleo

Gandititan

Han et al., 2024 GAN-dee-TIE-tuhn

Combines 'Gan' referencing Ganzhou City, the Chinese word 'di' meaning 'Earth' (also the first syllable of 'dizhi', meaning 'geology'), and 'titan' referencing the pre-Olympian giants of Greek mythology; the specific name cavocaudatus combines Latin 'cavum' (cavity) and 'cauda' (tail), alluding to the caudal vertebrae morphology.

100.5–89.8 million years ago Cenomanian–Turonian, Late Cretaceous
Late Cretaceous stages

Gandititan is an extinct genus of titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Zhoutian Formation of China. The genus contains a single species, G. cavocaudatus, known from a partial skeleton.

Diagnosis

  1. Long and narrow fossae present on dorsal and ventral parts of lateral surfaces of middle and posterior cervical centra
  2. Sacral neural spines fused into a dorsal platform with undulating (wave-shaped) lateral margins
  3. Anteriormost six caudal vertebrae with bifurcated neural spines
  4. Prominent triangular dorsal flanges on transverse processes of anteriormost caudal vertebrae (caudals 1-3)
  5. Paired slit-like foramina present on ventral surface of each anterior caudal centrum
  6. Additional (accessory) spinoprezygapophyseal laminae present on some anterior caudal vertebrae (caudals 4-5)
  7. Prominent lamina extending anteroposteriorly between bases of pre- and postzygapophyses in anterior caudal vertebrae (caudals 6-11)

Species

Gandititan cavocaudatus Han et al., 2024

Type species

From Latin 'cavum' meaning 'cavity' and 'cauda' meaning 'tail', alluding to the distinctive pattern of cavities seen in the caudal vertebrae.

Holotype
JXGM-F-V1 , Jiangxi Geological Museum
Material
Partial postcranial skeleton: six articulated cervical vertebrae, two partial dorsal vertebrae, complete sacrum articulated with first 17 caudal vertebrae, part of right pelvis
Horizon
upper Zhoutian Formation, Cenomanian–Turonian, Late Cretaceous , 100.5–89.8 million years ago
Locality
100 m north of Shiziyan Road, Datangkeng, Jiangxi, China

References

  1. 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 han2024a