In Depth
Dashanpusaurus is identified as a macronarian sauropod that might by related to the North American Camarasaurus, which means that it may have been a more specialised high browser. This fits in with another genus of sauropod from the Lower Shaximiao Formation called Abrosaurus that has also been considered to be a possible relative of Camarasaurus. Interestingly other sauropods from the Lower Shaximiao include Omeisaurus and Shunosaurus but these are very different to both Abrosaurus and Dashanpusaurus in form. While the presence of these dinosaurs in the same fossil formation proves that they were active in the same approximate location and time as one another, they likely adopted different feeding strategies and thus avoided something with each other. There is however speculation that Dashanpusaurus may have been more similar to the aforementioned Shunosaurus.
Other dinosaurs of the Lower Shaximiao include the small ornithischian Agilisaurus and the stegosaur Huayangosaurus, as well as numerous predatory dinosaurs such as Gasosaurus, Leshansaurus and Kaijiangosaurus. However there was one theropod in particular called Yangchuanosaurus that would have been a particular threat to sauropods like Dashanpusaurus. Yangchuanosaurus was described from a set of remains indicating that it was an eight metre long predator, but further isolated fossils have since revealed that an upper length of eleven meters was possible.
Further Reading
– A new camarasaurid from the Middle Jurassic, Xiashaximiao Formation in Dashanpu, China. – Jurassic Dinosaur Faunas in Zigong 81-85. – G. Peng, Y. Ye, Y. Gao, C. Shu & S. Jiang – 2005.
