Lapparentosaurus
Name:
Lapparentosaurus.
Phonetic: Lap-pa-ren-toe-sore-us.
Named By: Jose F. Bonaparte - 1986.
Synonyms: Bothriospondylus madagascariensis.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Dinosauria,
Saurischia, Sauropoda.
Species: L. madagascariensis
(type).
Diet: Herbivore.
Size: Uncertain but roughly estimated to be around
15 meters long.
Known locations: Madagascar - Isalo III
Formation.
Time period: Bathonian of the Jurassic.
Fossil representation: Partial post cranial remains
including vertebrae and limbs bones from several individuals of various
sizes.
The
type fossil material was originally assigned to the sauropod
genus
Bothriospondylus.
However, not only is Bothriospondylus considered
a dubious genus of sauropod because of the lack of identifiable
features upon the type material, but the type material came from
England, a long way from Madagascar. For this reason the
palaeontologist Jose Bonaparte renamed the Madagascan material as a new
genus; Lapparentosaurus.
Lapparentosaurus
is represented by several individuals, though the
exact number is hard to determine. However, the individuals that do
represent Lapparentosaurus are of different growth
stages, allowing
palaeontologists to get an idea of how Lapparentosaurus
grew to
adulthood. There is some uncertainty about whether Lapparentosaurus
was a primitive member of the macronarian sauropods or a distinct
brachiosaurid. Cladistic analysis has supported the idea
Lapparentosaurus was a primitive macronarian, and
this also ties in
to the appearance of Lapparentosaurus in the
Bathonian stage of the
Jurassic, roughly where we would expect primitive macronarian
sauropods to be. Brachiosaurids however, while still classed as
macronarians themselves, are more advanced in form and do not become
common until the late Jurassic (going by brachiosaurid fossil
appearances in the fossil record).
Further reading
- On bones of a sauropodous dinosaur from Madagascar. - Quarterly
Journal of the Geological Society of London 51: 329-336. - R.
Lydekker - 1895.
The early radiation and phylogenetic relationships of the Jurassic
sauropod dinosaurs, based on vertebral anatomy. The Beginning of
the Age of Dinosaurs: Faunal Change Across the Triassic–Jurassic
Boundary. - Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 247-258. -
Jose F. Bonaparte - 1986.
- Analyse pal�ohistologique d'une s�rie de croissance partielle chez
Lapparentosaurus madagascariensis (Jurassique
Moyen): essai sur
la dynamique de croissance d'un dinosaure sauropode. - Annales de
Pal�ontologie 81: 49–86 - F. Rimblot-Baly, A. de
Ricql�s, & L. Zylberberg - 1995.
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