Open Paleo

Gannansaurus

Lü et al., 2013 ga-nan-SOR-us

Gannan lizard; named after the Gannan region (Ganzhou Basin) of Jiangxi Province, China, combined with Greek sauros (lizard)

72.2–66.0 million years ago Maastrichtian, Late Cretaceous
Late Cretaceous stages

Gannansaurus is an extinct genus of somphospondylan sauropod dinosaur known from the latest Cretaceous Nanxiong Formation of Ganzhou Basin, Jiangxi Province of southern China. It is known from specimen GMNH F10001 which consists of a single, nearly complete dorsal vertebra and a mid-caudal vertebra. Gannansaurus was first named by Lü Junchang, Yi Laiping, Zhong Hui and Wei Xuefang in 2013 and the type species is Gannansaurus sinensis. Gannansaurus shares some characters with Euhelopus, indicating that it is more closely related to it rather than to other titanosauriforms.

Diagnosis

  1. Two centroprezygapophyseal lamina fossae, with neural canal and distinct openings separately located at the bottom and upper portion of the large square-shaped concavity formed by centroprezygapophyseal laminae and dorsal margin of the centrum.
  2. Large infraparapophysial fossa.
  3. Large, round lateral concavity with an eye-shaped pleurocoel inset, occupying 65% the length of the centrum.
  4. PCPL (posterior centroparapophysial lamina) and ACPL (anterior centroparapophysial lamina) weakly developed.
  5. PCDL (posterior centrodiapophysial lamina) separated into two branches by an infradiapophysial fossa dorsally.
  6. Wide and shallow ventral concavity on the caudal vertebra.

Species

Gannansaurus sinensis Lü et al., 2013

Type species

From Latin 'sinensis' meaning 'of China', referring to the country where the specimens were found.

Holotype
GMNH F10001 , Gunma Museum of Natural History
Material
Dorsal vertebrae
Horizon
Nanxiong Formation, Maastrichtian, Late Cretaceous , 72.2–66.0 million years ago
Locality
Longling Town, Jiangxi, China

References

  1. Lü, J.; Yi, L.; Zhong, H.; Wei, X. (2013). A new somphospondylan sauropod (Dinosauria, Titanosauriformes) from the Late Cretaceous of Ganzhou, Jiangxi Province of southern China. Acta Geologica Sinica (English Edition) 87(3): 678-685. doi:10.1111/1755-6724.12079

    Named Gannansaurus and assigned it to Somphospondyli, closest to Euhelopus, on vertebral characters without an analysis.

    lü2013c
  2. Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Sauropods. Princeton University Press.

    Suggests Gannansaurus is a titanosaur, by comparison with later-described material.

    jones2026b
  3. Mo, J. Y.; Fu, Q. Y.; Yu, Y. L.; Xu, X. (2023). A New Titanosaurian Sauropod from the Upper Cretaceous of Jiangxi Province, Southern China. Historical Biology 36(11): 2443-2457. Informa UK Limited. doi:10.1080/08912963.2023.2259413

    Places the Jiangxititan holotype about five kilometers from Longling Town, and recovers Gannansaurus in a basal titanosauriform polytomy.

    mo2023a