Open Paleo

Tapuiasaurus

Zaher et al., 2011

Named for the Tapuia people of Brazil combined with Greek 'sauros' meaning 'lizard', referring to the region of discovery in Minas Gerais, Brazil.

121.4–113.2 million years ago Aptian, Early Cretaceous
Early Cretaceous stages

Tapuiasaurus is a genus of titanosaur which lived during the Lower Cretaceous period (Aptian age) in what is now Minas Gerais, Brazil.

Under dispute

Placed within Saltasauroidea as incertae sedis. The describing analysis (Zaher and colleagues, 2011), which benefits from rare cranial material, recovered Tapuiasaurus deeply nested among derived titanosaurs as the sister taxon of Rapetosaurus, close to Nemegtosaurus. Later work cautions that this grouping of the few cranially-known titanosaurs may be an artifact and that Tapuiasaurus could occupy a much more basal, possibly pre-lithostrotian position (Wilson and colleagues, 2016). It is placed at Saltasauroidea following the dedicated cranial analysis.

Diagnosis

  1. Hook-shaped posteroventral process of the quadratojugal
  2. Anterior process of jugal tapering and forming most of ventral margin of antorbital fenestra
  3. Anterolateral tip of pterygoid contacts medial surface of ectopterygoid
  4. Deep fossa on lateral surface of maxilla between antorbital fenestra and subnarial foramen
  5. Elongated middle cervical vertebrae
  6. Posterior dorsal vertebrae with well-developed prespinal lamina and absence of hyposphene-hypantrum
  7. Crescent-shaped sternal plate

Species

Tapuiasaurus macedoi Zaher et al., 2011

Type species

Named in honor of Ubirajara Alves Macedo, who first discovered the deposits near Coração de Jesus.

Holotype
MZSP-PV 807 , Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de São Paulo
Material
Articulated partial skeleton composed of almost complete skull and mandible, hyoid apparatus, atlas, axis, five cervical and five dorsal vertebrae and ribs, left sternal plate, right coracoid, right humerus, left radius, ulnae, metacarpals, femora, left fibula, nearly complete left pes
Horizon
Quiricó Formation, Aptian, Early Cretaceous , 121.4–113.2 million years ago
Locality
Embira-Branca Hills, near Coração de Jesus, Minas Gerais, Brazil

References

  1. Zaher, H.; Pol, D.; Carvalho, A. B.; Nascimento, P. M.; Riccomini, C.; Larson, P.; Juárez Valieri, R. D.; Pires-Domingues, R.; da Silva, N. J.; de Almeida Campos, D. (2011). A Complete Skull of an Early Cretaceous Sauropod and the Evolution of Advanced Titanosaurians. PLoS ONE 6(2): e16663. Public Library of Science (PLoS). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0016663 zaher2011a
  2. Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Sauropods. Princeton University Press.

    Source of the body length, mass, and hip height estimates, and the appearance features.

    jones2026b
  3. Wilson, J. A.; Pol, D.; Carvalho, A. B.; Zaher, H. (2016). The skull of the titanosaur Tapuiasaurus macedoi (Dinosauria: Sauropoda), a basal titanosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of Brazil. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 178(3): 611-662. Oxford University Press (OUP). doi:10.1111/zoj.12420

    Suggested Tapuiasaurus may occupy a more basal, possibly pre-lithostrotian position.

    wilson2016a