AMPELOSAURUS
a nemegtosaurid titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of France.
Pronunciation: AM-pel-o-SOR-us
Meaning: Vineyard Lizard
Author/s: Le Loeuff (
1995)
Synonyms: None known
First Discovery: C.s.Aude, France
Discovery Chart Position: #396
Ampelosaurus atacis
Ampelosaurus is a member of Lithostrotia, meaning "paved with stones", which is a group of titanosaurian sauropods typified by armour plates and scutes embedded in the skin of their backs and flanks. Its remains were initially meagre, which hampered research somewhat. But the later discovery of a relatively complete skeleton from "Campagne-sur-Aude" prompted a spurt of media interest that made Ampelosaurus France's most popular sauropod, and one of the most complete and understood sauropods from all of Europe.
Etymology
Ampelosaurus is derived from the Greek "ampelos" (vine) and "sauros" (lizard) alluding to the fossil site at the Blanquette de Limoux vineyards. Only a dinosaur from France could be called "the Vineyard Lizard"!
The
species epithet,
atacis, is named after the nearby Aude River, which is known as "Atax" in Latin.
ZooBank registry:
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:6BF20D9F-C9E0-4FAB-B33C-5C51F1F7B9BF.
Discovery
The first remains of
Ampelosaurus were discovered at the above mentioned vineyard within the Marnes Rouges Inferieures Formation, Campagne-sur-Aude, France, in 1989. The
holotype, C3-247 - housed at the Musee de Dinosaurs of Esperaza, consists of three back (dorsal) vertebrae.
Estimations
Timeline:
Era: Mesozoic
Epoch: Late Cretaceous
Stage: Maastrichtian
Age range: 71-66 mya
Stats:
Est. max. length: 15 meters
Est. max. hip height: ?
Est. max. weight: 14 tons
Diet: Herbivore
References
• McIntosh JS (1990) "Sauropoda". Page 345-401 in Weishampel, Dodson and Osmólska (eds.) "
The Dinosauria: First Edition".
• Le Loeuff J (1995) "
Ampelosaurus atacis (nov. gen., nov. sp.), un nouveau Titanosauridae (Dinosauria, Sauropoda) du Crétacé supérieur de la Haute Vallée de l'Aude (France)" [
Ampelosaurus atacis, a new titanosaurid (Dinosauria, Sauropoda) from the Late Cretaceous of the Upper Aude Valley of France].
Comptes Rendus de l'Academie des Sciences Paris, 321 (ser. IIa): 693-699. (English translation by Matthew C. Lamanna.)
• Le Loeuff J and Buffetaut E (1996) "
Ampelosaurus atacis, the dinosaur of the wineyard".
The Dinosaur Society UK Quarterly, 1(4): 1–2.
• Upchurch P, Barrett PM and Dodson P (2004) "Sauropoda". Page 259-322 in Weishampel, Dodson and Osmólska (eds.) "
The Dinosauria: Second Edition".
• Le Loeuff J (2005) "Osteology of
Ampelosaurus atacis (Titanosauria) from Southern France". In "
Thunder-Lizards: The Sauropodomorph Dinosaurs".
• Rogers KC and Wilson J (2005) "
The Sauropods: Evolution and Paleobiology".
• Klein N, Sander PM, Stein K, Le Loeuff J, Carballido JL and Buffetaut E (2012) "Modified Laminar Bone in
Ampelosaurus atacis and Other Titanosaurs (Sauropoda): Implications for Life History and Physiology".
PLOS ONE, 7 (5): e36907. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0036907.
• Knoll F, Ridgely RC, Ortega F, Sanz JL and Witmer LM (2013) "Neurocranial Osteology and Neuroanatomy of a Late Cretaceous Titanosaurian Sauropod from Spain (
Ampelosaurus sp.)".
PLOS ONE, 8(1): e54991. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0054991.
• Paul GS (2016) "
The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs: Second Edition".
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To cite this page:
Atkinson, L.
"
AMPELOSAURUS :: from DinoChecker's dinosaur archive".
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