Omeisaurus
Name:
Omeisaurus
(Omei lizard - after Omeishan Mountain).
Phonetic: O-may-sore-us.
Named By: C. C. Young - 1939.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Dinosauria,
Saurischia, Sauropoda, Mamenchisauridae.
Species: O. junghsiensis
(type), O. changshouensis, O. fuxiensis, O.
jiaoi, O. luoquanensis, O. maoianus, O. puxiani, O.
tianfuensis.
Diet: Herbivore.
Size: Around 10 to just over 15 meters
long. Full size depends upon the species.
Known locations: China - Sichuan Province -
Dashanpu/Lower Shaximiao Formation. Possibly also the Upper
Shaximiao though these remains are widely regarded as being
indeterminate.
Time period: Bathonian/Callovian of the Jurassic.
Fossil representation: Many individuals.
With
its incredibly long neck Omeisaurus is both a
relative and possible
comtempory to the more famous Mamenchisaurus.
However previous Upper
Shaximiao Formation fossils of Omeisaurus are now
considered
indeterminate. If Omeisaurus really does only
exist in Lower
Shaximiao deposits, then it may confirm that Mamenchisaurus
replaced
Omeisaurus since the former is only known from the
later Upper
Shaximiao. The large number of individual Omeisaurus
recovered
indicates that it was a successful design that was well suited to its
environment.
Other
sauropod dinosaurs active at the same time and location as Omeisaurus
include Abrosaurus,
Dashanpusaurus
and the clubbed tail Shunosaurus.
Other herbivorous dinosaurs in the same time period and general area
include the stegosaur Huayangosaurus
and the small bipedal
ornithischian Agilisaurus.
Numerous predatory dinosaurs also roamed
the landscapes and these include Chuandongocoelurus,
Kaijiangosaurus,
Gasosaurus,
Leshansaurus,
Xuanhanosaurus
and
Yangchuanosaurus.
The last one in particular is important to
Omeisaurus since it could attain sizes where it
would have been a
serious threat to smaller Omeisaurus, and still
dangerous enough to
worry larger individuals.
Further reading
- On a new Sauropoda, with notes on other fragmentary reptiles from
Szechuan. - Bulletin of the Geological Society of China 19(3):279-315.
- C.-C. Young - 1939.
- New sauropods from China. - Vertebrata PalAsiatica 2(1):1-28. - C.-C.
Young - 1958.
- [Dinosaurs from the Jurassic of Sichuan]. Palaeontologica Sinica, New
Series C, Whole Number 162(23):1-136. - Z. Dong, S. Zhou & H.
Zhang - 1983.
- [Omeisaurus tianfuensis—a new species of Omeisaurus
from Dashanpu,
Zigong, Sichuan]. - Journal of Chengdu College of Geology 1984(suppl.
2):13-32. - X. He, K. Li, K. Cai & Y. Gao - 1984.
- Omeisaurus maoianus: a complete Sauropoda from
Jingyan, Sichuan
1-128. - F. Tang, X.-S. Jin, X.-M. Kang & G.-J. Zhang - 2001.
- [A new species of Omeisaurus from the Middle
Jurassic of Zigong,
Sichuan]. - Vertebrata PalAsiatica 49(2):185-194. - S. Jiang, F. Li,
G.-Z. Peng & Y. Ye - 2011.
- A new species of Omeisaurus (Dinosauria:
Sauropoda) from the Middle
Jurassic of Yunyang, Chongqing, China. - Historical Biology. - C. Tan,
M. Xiao, H. Dai, X.-F. Hu, N. Li, Q.-Y. Ma, Z.-Y. Wei, H.-D. Yu, C.
Xiong, G.-Z. Peng, S. Jiang, X.-X. Ren & H.-L. You - 2020.
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