MACROCOLLUM
an ancient unaysaurid sauropodomorph dinosaur from the Late Triassic of Brazil.
Pronunciation: MAK-row-COLL-um
Meaning: Long necked
Author/s: Müller (
2018)
Synonyms: None known
First Discovery: Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Acta Ordinal: #1003
Macrocollum itaquii
(Itaqui's long necked one)Etymology
Macrocollum is derived from Greek "makros" (long) and the Latin "collum" (neck). The
species epithet (or specific epithet),
itaquii, honours Mr José Jerundino Machado Itaqui, one of the main creators of CAPPA/UFSM (Centro de Apoio à Pesquisa Paleontológica da Quarta Colônia/Universidade Federal de Santa Maria).
Discovery
The first remains of
Macrocollum were discovered in 2012 at the Wachholz site, located within the Caturrita Formation (upper Candelária Sequence, Paraná Basin) in the municipality of Agudo, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
The
holotype (CAPPA/UFSM 0001a) consists of an almost complete, fully articulated skeleton. Two paratypes from the same locality are also articulated skeletons: one nearly complete (CAPPA/UFSM 0001b) and another missing only the head and neck (CAPPA/UFSM 0001c). A partial skull (CAPPA/UFSM 0001d) was found in close association with these specimens.
In 2023, a partial left foot (CAPPA/UFSM 0327) discovered at the "Boi da Guampa Torta" site—approximately 1 km from the Wachholz locality on the outskirts of Agudo—was referred to
Macrocollum by Fabiula Prestes de Bem and Rodrigo Temp Müller.
Fossils of
Macrocollum preserve evidence of an air-sac system, making it the oldest known dinosaur to show this trait.
Preparator
Rodrigo Temp Müller.
Estimations
Timeline:
Era: Mesozoic
Epoch: Triassic
Stage: Norian
Age range: 226-225 mya
Stats:
Est. max. length: ?
Est. max. hip height: ?
Est. max. weight: ?
Diet: Herbivore
Unaysauridae
Macrocollum
itaquii
References
• Müller RT, da Rosa AAS, da Silva R, Aires L, Schiller AS, Pacheco CP, Pavanatto AEB and Dias-da-Silva S (August 2015) "Wachholz, a new exquisite dinosaur-bearing fossiliferous site from the Upper Triassic of southern Brazil".
Journal of South American Earth Sciences, 61: 120–128. DOI: 10.1016/j.jsames.2014.10.009.
• Müller RT, Langer MC and Dias-da-Silva S (2018) "An exceptionally preserved association of complete dinosaur skeletons reveals the oldest long-necked sauropodomorphs".
Biology Letters, 14(11): 20180633. DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2018.0633.
• de Bem FP and Müller RT (2023) "First record of
Macrocollum itaquii (Dinosauria: Sauropodomorpha) outside the type locality and its biostratigraphic significance".
Historical Biology, 36(12): 1-14.
DOI: 10.1080/08912963.2023.2269404.
• Aureliano T, Ghilardi AM, Müller RT, Kerber L, Fernandes MA, Ricardi-Branco F and Wedel MJ (2023) "The origin of an invasive air sac system in sauropodomorph dinosaurs".
The Anatomical Record, Special Issue: The Dawn of an Era: Comparative and Functional Anatomy of Triassic Tetrapods, 307(4): 1084-1092. DOI: 10.1002/ar.25209.
• Fonseca AO, Bem FP and Müller RT (2025) "Osteology of the appendicular skeleton of
Macrocollum itaquii (Dinosauria: Sauropodomorpha) sheds light on early dinosaur wrist evolution".
Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 205(1): zlaf100.
DOI: 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaf100.
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To cite this page:
Atkinson, L.
"
MACROCOLLUM :: from DinoChecker's dinosaur archive".
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http://www.dinochecker.com/dinosaurs/MACROCOLLUM›. Web access: 25th Apr 2026.
