Osteology of Huabeisaurus allocotus (Sauropoda: Titanosauriformes) from the Upper Cretaceous of China.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The Late Cretaceous titanosauriform sauropod Huabeisaurus allocotus Pang and Cheng is known from teeth and much of the postcranial skeleton. Its completeness makes it an important taxon for integrating and interpreting anatomical observations from more fragmentary Cretaceous East Asian sauropods and for understanding titanosauriform evolution in general.

Methodology/principal findings

We present a detailed redescription of Huabeisaurus allocotus and a suite of anatomical comparisons with other titanosauriforms that demonstrate its validity via autapomorphies (e.g., division of some presacral vertebral laminae, reduced development of caudal ribs, the development of fossae relative to one another in caudal vertebral neural arches, high tibia-to-femur ratio). Huabeis

SUBMITTER: D'Emic MD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3732233 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature