Open Paleo

Giraffatitan

Paul, 1988 ji-raf-a-tie-tan

Titanic giraffe; from the animal name giraffe and Greek Titan, referring to its enormous size and giraffe-like long neck

154.8–143.1 million years ago Kimmeridgian–Tithonian, Late Jurassic
Late Jurassic stages

Giraffatitan is a genus of sauropod dinosaur that lived during the late Jurassic Period (Kimmeridgian-Tithonian stages) in what is now Lindi Region, Tanzania. Only one species is known, G. brancai, named in honor of German paleontologist Wilhelm von Branca, who was a driving force behind the expedition that discovered it in the Tendaguru Formation. Giraffatitan brancai was originally described by German paleontologist Werner Janensch as a species of the North American sauropod Brachiosaurus from the Morrison Formation, as Brachiosaurus brancai. Recent research shows that the differences between the type species of Brachiosaurus and the Tendaguru material are so large that the African material should be placed in a separate genus.

Diagnosis

  1. Gracile overall build; 25 presacrals and 12 dorsals
  2. Mid dorsal centra approximately same length as posterior dorsal centra
  3. Anterior dorsal spines and transverse processes much taller and wider than those of posterior dorsals, forming shoulder withers
  4. Neural arches short vertically and fore and aft; transversely broad transverse processes forming a shallow V
  5. Dorsal column less than twice humerus length and short relative to vertebra height; body mass relatively modest relative to limbs
  6. Dorsal centra pleurocoels moderate in size

Species

Giraffatitan brancai Paul, 1988

Type species

Named for Wilhelm von Branca, director of the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin and a driving force behind the Tendaguru expedition that recovered the holotype material.

Lectotype
MB.R.2180 , Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin
Material
Skull and cervical vertebrae 2-7.
Horizon
Middle Dinosaur Member, Tendaguru Formation, Kimmeridgian–Tithonian, Late Jurassic , 154.8–143.1 million years ago
Locality
Site S, Lindi, Tanzania Bussert and colleagues (2009) raised Tendaguru to formation rank and renamed its Middle Saurian Bed the Middle Dinosaur Member, placing Site S within it. Taylor (2009) gives only a species-wide range across the Middle and Upper members.

Synonyms of the genus

Name Type Reason
Abdallahsaurus nomen nudum Informal name; never met ICZN requirements for formal publication and is treated as referable to Giraffatitan. Per Olshevsky's Dinosaur Genera List.
Blancocerosaurus nomen nudum Informal name; never met ICZN requirements for formal publication and is treated as referable to Giraffatitan. Per Olshevsky's Dinosaur Genera List.
Ligomasaurus nomen nudum Informal name; never met ICZN requirements for formal publication and is treated as referable to Giraffatitan. Per Olshevsky's Dinosaur Genera List.
Mtapaiasaurus nomen nudum Informal name; never met ICZN requirements for formal publication and is treated as referable to Giraffatitan. Per Olshevsky's Dinosaur Genera List.
Salimosaurus nomen nudum Informal name; never met ICZN requirements for formal publication and is treated as referable to Giraffatitan. Per Olshevsky's Dinosaur Genera List.
Wangonisaurus nomen nudum Informal name; never met ICZN requirements for formal publication and is treated as referable to Giraffatitan. Per Olshevsky's Dinosaur Genera List.

Notable specimens

  • HMN XV2

    Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin largest individual

    Largest known individual of the taxon, represented by a fibula 13 percent larger than the corresponding bone of the subadult paralectotype SII; it shows the animal grew beyond the standard size estimates, to roughly 23-26 meters long and about 40-48 metric tons.

    Paul (1988)Taylor (2011)

References

  1. Paul, G. S. (1988). The brachiosaur giants of the Morrison and Tendaguru with a description of a new subgenus, Giraffatitan, and a comparison of the world's largest dinosaurs. Hunteria 2(3): 1-14. paul1988b
  2. Taylor, M. P. (2009). A re-evaluation of Brachiosaurus altithorax Riggs 1903 (Dinosauria, Sauropoda) and its generic separation from Giraffatitan brancai (Janensch 1914). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 29(3): 787-806. Taylor & Francis. doi:10.1671/039.029.0309

    Separates Giraffatitan generically from Brachiosaurus and gives the revised diagnosis distinguishing the two.

    taylor2009a
  3. Taylor, M. P. (2011). Correction: A re-evaluation of Brachiosaurus altithorax Riggs, 1903 (Dinosauria, Sauropoda) and its generic separation from Giraffatitan brancai (Janensch, 1914). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 31(3): 727. Informa UK Limited. doi:10.1080/02724634.2011.557115

    Corrects the lectotype designation of the 2009 re-evaluation, exchanging lectotype and paralectotype and giving their current numbers as MB.R.2180 and MB.R.2181.

    taylor2011b
  4. Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Sauropods. Princeton University Press.

    Source of the hip height estimate, and the appearance features.

    jones2026b
  5. Bussert, R.; Heinrich, W. D.; Aberhan, M. (2009). The Tendaguru Formation (Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous, southern Tanzania): definition, palaeoenvironments, and sequence stratigraphy. Fossil Record 12(2): 141-174. doi:10.5194/fr-12-141-2009

    Raises Tendaguru to formation rank and places Site S, which yielded the lectotype, in its Middle Dinosaur Member.

    bussert2009a