Pronunciation: DAH-no-SOR-us
Meaning: Da-an district lizard
Author/s: Ye et al. (2005)
Synonyms: None known
First Discovery: Sichuan, China
Discovery Chart Position: #570
Daanosaurus zhangi
When Ye, Gao and Jiang coined Daanosaurus for a juvenile sauropod specimen from the Late Jurassic of China in 2005, they assigned it to Bellusaurinae: a sub-family of Brachiosauridae that Zhiming Dong had raised in 1990 to house Bellusaurus from Xinjiang's Klameli region. Funnily enough, the latter is also based solely on juvenile specimens, with some experts suspecting they belong to the region-honouring Klamelisaurus, which is known only from adult remains that share key features. Fortuitously, Daanosaurus has managed to dodge thunder-stealing adults so far. But that may change if it ever gets a long overdue review, and there would be no shortage of candidates.
Daanosaurus was described, ever so briefly, as having spoon-shaped teeth, slightly elongated neck vertebrae, long straight thighbones that are extremely bulbous at both ends and hollowed-at-the-rear opisthocoelous back vertebrae with broad plate-like spines that were misspelt as opsithocoelous, twice, by the name-coining authors. However, some of those features are found in many sauropods, including the contemporaneous noodle-necked Mamenchisaurus. At the same time, opisthocoelous back vertebrae are present in all macronarian sauropods. Given the uncertainty, palaeontologists currently seem content to class Daanosaurus as a true sauropod of uncertain placement (Eusauropoda incertae sedis) and brush it under the carpet. But one of them will likely tackle it head-on eventually.
Daanosaurus was described, ever so briefly, as having spoon-shaped teeth, slightly elongated neck vertebrae, long straight thighbones that are extremely bulbous at both ends and hollowed-at-the-rear opisthocoelous back vertebrae with broad plate-like spines that were misspelt as opsithocoelous, twice, by the name-coining authors. However, some of those features are found in many sauropods, including the contemporaneous noodle-necked Mamenchisaurus. At the same time, opisthocoelous back vertebrae are present in all macronarian sauropods. Given the uncertainty, palaeontologists currently seem content to class Daanosaurus as a true sauropod of uncertain placement (Eusauropoda incertae sedis) and brush it under the carpet. But one of them will likely tackle it head-on eventually.
(Zhang's Da-an lizard)Etymology
Daanosaurus is derived from "Da-an" (for the Da-an district of Zigong) and the Greek "sauros" (lizard). The species epithet, zhangi, honours Chinese paleontologist Fucheng Zhang.
Discovery
The remains of Daanosaurus were discovered in the Upper Shaximiao (Shangshaximiao) Formation at Yongan quarry, Da-an district, Zigong Prefecture (aka "Salt City"), Sichuan Province, China, in 2002. The holotype (ZDM 0193) is a partial skeleton.
