Open Paleo

Jobaria

Sereno et al., 1999 joh-BAHR-ee-uh

Named after Jobar, a mythical giant beast from local Tuareg tradition in Niger, whose bones local people believed the fossils to be

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

Jobaria is a genus of sauropod dinosaur that lived in what is now Niger during the middle Jurassic Period, between 164 and 161 million years ago. Jobaria is currently the only known valid sauropod from the Tiouraren, where it was discovered in 1997.

Under dispute

Jobaria is most often recovered as a derived non-neosauropodan eusauropod (Sereno and colleagues, 1999, outside the neosauropod radiation; Mannion and colleagues, 2019, as sister to Cetiosauriscus), with Zhang and colleagues (2026) placing it within Turiasauria, in a clade with Atlasaurus and Lapparentosaurus; some analyses instead recover it as a basal macronarian (Nair and Salisbury, 2012).

Diagnosis

  1. Cervical prezygapophyses with accessory anterior process
  2. Cervical neural arches with deep fossa between centropostzygapophyseal and intrapostzygapophyseal laminae
  3. Dorsal prezygapophyses with broad pendant flange
  4. Dorsal neural arches with fossa between parapophyses and diapophyses
  5. Anterior caudal neural spines with circular fossa at base of prespinal lamina
  6. Cervical ribs 3-6 with accessory anterior process
  7. U-shaped first chevron
  8. Midcaudal chevrons with rugose ridge across distal end of blade

Species

Jobaria tiguidensis Sereno et al., 1999

Type species

Named for the cliff of Tiguidi in Niger, the site where the holotype was discovered.

Holotype
MNBH TIG3 , Musée National Boubou Hama
Material
Partial articulated skeleton including axis, forelimbs and hind limbs, pubes, and most of tail.
Horizon
Tiourarén Formation, Bathonian–Oxfordian, Middle Jurassic–Late Jurassic , 168.2–154.8 million years ago
Locality
Tamérat, Agadez, Niger

References

  1. Sereno, P. C.; Beck, A. L.; Dutheil, D. B.; Larsson, H. C. E.; Lyon, G. H.; Moussa, B.; Sadleir, R. W.; Sidor, C. A.; Varricchio, D. J.; Wilson, G. P.; Wilson, J. A. (1999). Cretaceous Sauropods from the Sahara and the Uneven Rate of Skeletal Evolution Among Dinosaurs. Science 286(5443): 1342-1347. American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). doi:10.1126/science.286.5443.1342

    Original description; placed Jobaria outside the neosauropod radiation.

    sereno1999a
  2. Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Sauropods. Princeton University Press.

    Source of the hip height estimate.

    jones2026b
  3. Zhang, X. Q.; Wang, Y. M.; Wang, Z. J.; Wang, Y. C.; Wang, T.; Wang, G. F.; Zou, Y.; Dong, Q. X.; Su, X.; Jiang, H.; Wang, Y. J.; You, H. L. (2026). The first turiasaurian sauropod (Dinosauria: Eusauropoda) from East Asia. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 206(2): zlaf201. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaf201

    Recovered Jobaria within Turiasauria, in a clade with Atlasaurus and Lapparentosaurus sister to the traditional turiasaurs.

    zhang2026a
  4. Mannion, P. D.; Upchurch, P.; Schwarz, D.; Wings, O. (2019). Taxonomic affinities of the putative titanosaurs from the Late Jurassic Tendaguru Formation of Tanzania: phylogenetic and biogeographic implications for eusauropod dinosaur evolution. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 185(3): 784-909. Oxford University Press (OUP). doi:10.1093/zoolinnean/zly068

    Recovered Jobaria as a non-neosauropod eusauropod, sister to Cetiosauriscus.

    mannion2019a
  5. Nair, J. P.; Salisbury, S. W. (2012). New anatomical information on Rhoetosaurus brownei Longman, 1926, a gravisaurian sauropodomorph dinosaur from the Middle Jurassic of Queensland, Australia. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 32(2): 369-394. doi:10.1080/02724634.2012.622324

    Alternative analysis recovered Jobaria as a basal macronarian with weak support

    nair2012a