EUROPASAURUS
a plant-eating dwarf macronarian sauropod dinosaur from the Late Jurassic of Germany.
Pronunciation: yoo-ROW-puh-SOR-us
Meaning: Lizard of Europe
Author/s: Sander
et al. (
2006)
Synonyms: None known
First Discovery: Oker, Germany
Discovery Chart Position: #605
Europasaurus holgeri
(Holger's European lizard)Etymology
Europasaurus is derived from "Europe" and the Greek "sauros" (lizard).
The
species epithet,
holgeri, honours Holger Lüdtke, who discovered its first remains.
Discovery
The first fossils of
Europasaurus were discovered in the Süntel Formation at "bed 93" of the Langenberg Quarry, Oker, near Goslar, Lower Saxony, Germany, by Holger Lüdtke in 1998.
The
holotype (DFMMh/FV 291) is a partial skeleton which includes bits of skull, teeth, hip and neck vertebrae, and ribs.
Referred material from the same quarry includes the isolated bones of at least 10 individuals, ranging from young juveniles to adults, 1.7m to 6.2m in length.
Estimations
Timeline:
Era: Mesozoic
Epoch: Late Jurassic
Stage: Kimmeridgian
Age range: 154-151 mya
Stats:
Est. max. length: 6.2 meters
Est. max. hip height: ?
Est. max. weight: 1.5 tons
Diet: Herbivore
References
• Upchurch PM, Barrett PM and Dodson P (2004) "Sauropoda". Page 259-322 in Weishampel, Dodson and Osmólska (eds.) "
The Dinosauria: Second Edition".
• Sander PM, Mateus O, Laven T, Knötschke N (2006) "
Bone histology indicates insular dwarfism in a new Late Jurassic sauropod dinosaur".
Nature, 441: 739-741. DOI: 10.1038/nature04633.
• Carballido JL and Sander PM (2013) "Postcranial axial skeleton of
Europasaurus holgeri (Dinosauria, Sauropoda) from the Upper Jurassic of Germany: implications for sauropod ontogeny and phylogenetic relationships of basal Macronaria".
Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, 12(3): 335-387. DOI: 10.1080/14772019.2013.764935.
• Marpmann JS, Carballido JL, Sander PM and Knötschke N (2014) "Cranial anatomy of the Late Jurassic dwarf sauropod
Europasaurus holgeri (Dinosauria, Camarasauromorpha): ontogenetic changes and size dimorphism".
Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, 13(3): 221-263. DOI: 10.1080/14772019.2013.875074.
• Slodownik M and Wings O (2015) "Bite marks on
Europasaurus bones from the Langenberg Quarry near Goslar (Lower Saxony, Germany)".
13th Annual Meeting of the European Association of Vertebrate Palaeontologists Opole, Poland, Abstracts: 141.
• Paul GS (2016) "
The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs: Second Edition".
• Schade M, Knötschke N, Hörnig M, Paetzel C and Stumpf S (2022) "They call me the wanderer - Neurovascular anatomy of dwarfed dinosaur implies precociality in sauropods".
bioRxiv 2022.08.01.502289.
DOI: 10.1101/2022.08.01.502289.
• Régent V, Wiersma-Weyand K, Wings O, Knötschke N and Sander PM 2024) "The dentition of the Late Jurassic dwarf sauropod
Europasaurus holgeri from northern Germany: ontogeny, function, and implications for a rhamphotheca-like structure in Sauropoda".
PeerJ: 12:e17764. DOI: 10.7717/peerj.17764.
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To cite this page:
Atkinson, L.
"
EUROPASAURUS :: from DinoChecker's dinosaur archive".
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http://www.dinochecker.com/dinosaurs/EUROPASAURUS›. Web access: 06th Mar 2026.
