Open Paleo

Mansourasaurus

Sallam et al., 2018 man-SOO-rah-SOR-us

Named for Mansoura University in Egypt, the institution whose paleontologists discovered and described it, combined with Greek 'sauros' meaning 'lizard'.

83.6–72.2 million years ago Campanian, Late Cretaceous
Late Cretaceous stages

Mansourasaurus is a genus of herbivorous lithostrotian sauropod dinosaur from the Quseir Formation of Egypt. The type and only species is Mansourasaurus shahinae.

Under dispute

Mansourasaurus was described as a derived titanosaur, the sister of Lohuecotitan in an Afro-Eurasian saltasaurid clade (Sallam and colleagues, 2018). Later analyses agree on a derived saltasauroid position but differ on its sister: Paludititan within Opisthocoelicaudiinae (Vila and colleagues, 2022), Lirainosaurinae (Navarro and colleagues, 2022), or Lirainosaurus or Saltasaurinae depending on weighting (Díez Díaz and colleagues, 2025). It is not a member of Diamantinasauria.

Diagnosis

  1. Ten dentary tooth positions, uniquely low number within Titanosauria
  2. Dentary symphyseal region with pronounced ventral projection ('chin') comprising ~one-third of anterior dorsoventral depth
  3. Meckelian groove facing predominantly ventrally
  4. Foramen in posterior portion of lateral surface of anterior to middle cervical centrum
  5. Parapophysis anteroposterior length subequal to centrum length in anterior to middle cervical vertebra
  6. Foramen in capitulotubercular web of anterior cervical rib

Species

Mansourasaurus shahinae Sallam et al., 2018

Type species

Named for Mona Shahin, one of the founders of the Mansoura University Vertebrate Paleontology Center in Egypt.

Holotype
MUVP 200 , Mansoura University Vertebrate Paleontology Center, Department of Geology
Material
Associated partial skeleton including cranial fragments, dentaries, cervical and dorsal vertebrae with ribs, scapulocoracoid, sternal plate, humeri, radius, metacarpals, metatarsals, osteoderms
Horizon
upper Quseir Formation, Campanian, Late Cretaceous , 83.6–72.2 million years ago
Locality
north of road between Mut and Balat, New Valley, Egypt

References

  1. Sallam, H. M.; Gorscak, E.; O'Connor, P. M.; El-Dawoudi, I. A.; El-Sayed, S.; Saber, S.; Kora, M. A.; Sertich, J. J. W.; Seiffert, E. R.; Lamanna, M. C. (2018). New Egyptian sauropod reveals Late Cretaceous dinosaur dispersal between Europe and Africa. Nature Ecology & Evolution 2(3): 445-451. Springer Science and Business Media LLC. doi:10.1038/s41559-017-0455-5

    Named Mansourasaurus and recovered it as the sister of Lohuecotitan in an Afro-Eurasian saltasaurid clade.

    sallam2018a
  2. Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Sauropods. Princeton University Press.

    Source of the hip height estimate.

    jones2026b
  3. Vila, B.; Sellés, A.; Moreno-Azanza, M.; Razzolini, N. L.; Gil-Delgado, A.; Canudo, J. I.; Galobart, À. (2022). A titanosaurian sauropod with Gondwanan affinities in the latest Cretaceous of Europe. Nature Ecology & Evolution 6(3): 288-296. Springer Science and Business Media LLC. doi:10.1038/s41559-021-01651-5

    Recovered Mansourasaurus as the sister of Paludititan within Opisthocoelicaudiinae.

    vila2022a
  4. Navarro, B. A.; Ghilardi, A. M.; Aureliano, T.; Díez Díaz, V.; Bandeira, K. L. N.; Cattaruzzi, A. G. S.; Iori, F. V.; Martine, A. M.; Carvalho, A. B.; Anelli, L. E.; Fernandes, M. A.; Zaher, H. (2022). A New Nanoid Titanosaur (Dinosauria: Sauropoda) from the Upper Cretaceous of Brazil. Ameghiniana 59(5). Asociacion Paleontologica Argentina. doi:10.5710/amgh.25.08.2022.3477

    Recovered Mansourasaurus as the sister of Lirainosaurinae within Saltasauroidea.

    navarro2022a
  5. Díez Díaz, V.; Mannion, P. D.; Csiki-Sava, Z.; Upchurch, P. (2025). Revision of Romanian sauropod dinosaurs reveals high titanosaur diversity and body-size disparity on the latest Cretaceous Haţeg Island, with implications for titanosaurian biogeography. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 23(1). Informa UK Limited. doi:10.1080/14772019.2024.2441516

    Recovered Mansourasaurus with Lirainosaurus under equal weights, and as the sister of Saltasaurinae under implied weights.

    díezdíaz2025a