Open Paleo

Tornieria

Sternfeld, 1911 tor-NEER-ee-a

Named in honor of German zoologist Gustav Tornier

149.2–143.1 million years ago Tithonian, Late Jurassic
Late Jurassic stages

Tornieria is a genus of diplodocid sauropod dinosaur from the Late Jurassic in Lindi Region of Tanzania.

Diagnosis

  1. Mid- and posterior cervical neural arches with the centroprezygapophyseal lamina dorsally divided into a lateral and a medial lamina, the medial lamina joining the interprezygapophyseal lamina rather than the prezygapophysis
  2. Base of the notch between the metapophyses of the anterior bifid dorsal vertebrae wide and rounded
  3. Posterior border of the sternal plate straight
  4. Ischium with the pubic articulation 1.5 times or more the anteroposterior length of its pubic pedicel
  5. Distal femoral condyles expanding onto the anterior part of the femoral shaft

Species

Tornieria africana (Fraas, 1908)

Type species

First named as Gigantosaurus africanus

From Latin 'africana' meaning 'African', referring to Africa, the continent where the holotype was discovered in the Tendaguru Beds of Tanzania.

Holotype
SMNS 12140, SMNS 12141a, SMNS 12142, SMNS 12143, SMNS 12145a , Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde
Material
Right femur 1.42 m long, right fibula, right ischium, the centrum of the second caudal vertebra, and a rib fragment, all of one individual.
Notes
Remes (2006) removed a distal caudal vertebra from the type series, referring it to Brachiosaurus brancai. Elements of the same individual the later German expedition recovered are not type material.
Horizon
Upper Dinosaur Member, Tendaguru Formation, Tithonian, Late Jurassic , 149.2–143.1 million years ago
Locality
Tendaguru Quarry A, Lindi, Tanzania

Synonyms

  • Gigantosaurus africanus reassigned

    Originally described as Gigantosaurus africanus; the genus name was preoccupied, and the species was reassigned to Tornieria.

Synonyms of the genus

Name Type Reason
Gigantosaurus preoccupied Name preoccupied by Gigantosaurus (Reptilia).
Mohammadisaurus nomen nudum Informal name used for material now considered referable to Tornieria.

References

  1. Fraas, E. (1908). Dinosaurierfunde in Ostafrika [Dinosaur finds in East Africa]. Jahreshefte des Vereins für Vaterländische Naturkunde in Württemberg 64: 84-86.

    In German. Names the species as Gigantosaurus africanus in a report of Fraas's talk; the genus name was preoccupied and later replaced by Tornieria.

    fraas1908a
  2. Fraas, E. (1908). Ostafrikanische Dinosaurier [East African dinosaurs]. Palaeontographica 55: 105-144.

    In German. Describes the material as Gigantosaurus africanus.

    fraas1908b
  3. Sternfeld, R. (1911). Zur Nomenklatur der Gattung Gigantosaurus Fraas [On the nomenclature of the genus Gigantosaurus Fraas]. Sitzungsberichte der Gesellschaft Naturforschender Freunde zu Berlin 8: 398.

    Coins the replacement genus Tornieria for the preoccupied Gigantosaurus Fraas, 1908.

    sternfeld1911a
  4. Tschopp, E.; Mateus, O.; Benson, R. B. J. (2015). A specimen-level phylogenetic analysis and taxonomic revision of Diplodocidae (Dinosauria, Sauropoda). PeerJ 3: e857. PeerJ. doi:10.7717/peerj.857

    Source of the diagnostic features; a specimen-level revision that provides a revised diagnosis and holds the genus distinct from Barosaurus.

    tschopp2015a
  5. Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Sauropods. Princeton University Press.

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

    jones2026b
  6. Remes, K. (2006). Revision of the Tendaguru sauropod dinosaur Tornieria africana (Fraas) and its relevance for sauropod paleobiogeography. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 26(3): 651-669. Taylor and Francis. doi:10.1671/0272-4634(2006)26[651:ROTTSD]2.0.CO;2

    Redescribes the holotype and a referred partial skeleton, and places the type material in the Upper Saurian Beds, the former name of the Upper Dinosaur Member, of Tithonian age.

    remes2006a