Silutitan
Named after the Silk Road (the ancient trade route through the region where it was found) combined with Greek titan, "giant" — means "Silk Road giant"
Early Cretaceous stages
Silutitan is a genus of euhelopodid sauropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous Shengjinkou Formation of Xinjiang, China. It contains only the type species, Silutitan sinensis.
Diagnosis
- Ventrolaterally bifurcated postzygodiapophyseal laminae (PODL) in middle to posterior cervical vertebrae
- Anteriorly bifurcated posterior centrodiapophyseal laminae (PCDL) on four posterior-most cervical vertebrae
- Parapodiapophyseal laminae (PPDL) forming developed ventral flanges
- Contact surface of diapophysis and tuberculum constricted on anterior and posterior faces
Species
Silutitan sinensis Wang et al., 2021
Type species
From Latin 'sinensis' meaning 'of China' or 'Chinese', referring to the country where the holotype was discovered.
- Holotype
- IVPP V27874 , Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology
- Material
- Articulated series of six cervical vertebrae with almost all cervical ribs
- Horizon
- Shengjinkou Formation, Valanginian, Early Cretaceous , 137.1–132.6 million years ago
- Locality
- Hami, Xinjiang, China
References
- Wang, X.; Bandeira, K. L. N.; Qiu, R.; Jiang, S.; Cheng, X.; Ma, Y.; Kellner, A. W. A. (2021). The first dinosaurs from the Early Cretaceous Hami Pterosaur Fauna, China. Scientific Reports 11(1). Springer Science and Business Media LLC. doi:10.1038/s41598-021-94273-7 wang2021a
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Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Sauropods. Princeton University Press.
Source of the body length, mass, and hip height estimates.
jones2026b