Pronunciation: soh-NEE-doe-SOR-us
Meaning: Sonida Lizard
Author/s: Xu et al. (2006)
Synonyms: None known
First Discovery: Nei Mongol, China
Discovery Chart Position: #593
Sonidosaurus saihangaobiensis
After half a dozen years of prodding, poking, and puzzling, palaeontologists came to the conclusion that Sonidosaurus was a titanosaur. But even then, which branch of the titanosaurian tree was unclear because of a pesky hotch-potch of primitive and derived features.
The latest research suggests it's a member of Lithostrotia — meaning "paved with stones", in reference to the armoured backs of its founding members. Funnily enough, the known remains of Sonidosaurus don't include armour of any kind. And its back isn't the best.
Sonidosaurus is a pretty low-key sauropod and little talked about. Even a television documentary that was being filmed to re-enact its discovery was canned because a bone, pulled at random and dusted off by Chinese palaeontologist Xu Xing, turned out to belong to the huge oviraptorosaur Gigantoraptor!
The lizard from Sonid was small for a sauropod, being only a tad larger than the theropod that stole its thunder, and, despite being separated by millions of years, it seems to have many features in common with the Asian titanosaur Opisthocoelicaudia, although those similarities might have evolved independently rather than proving a close kinship.
The latest research suggests it's a member of Lithostrotia — meaning "paved with stones", in reference to the armoured backs of its founding members. Funnily enough, the known remains of Sonidosaurus don't include armour of any kind. And its back isn't the best.
Sonidosaurus is a pretty low-key sauropod and little talked about. Even a television documentary that was being filmed to re-enact its discovery was canned because a bone, pulled at random and dusted off by Chinese palaeontologist Xu Xing, turned out to belong to the huge oviraptorosaur Gigantoraptor!
The lizard from Sonid was small for a sauropod, being only a tad larger than the theropod that stole its thunder, and, despite being separated by millions of years, it seems to have many features in common with the Asian titanosaur Opisthocoelicaudia, although those similarities might have evolved independently rather than proving a close kinship.
Etymology
Sonidosaurus is derived from "Sonid" (from Sonid Zuoqi, the large geographical area which contains the type locality) and the Greek "sauros" (lizard).
The species epithet (or specific name), saihangaobiensis, honours the actual type locality, the town of saihangaobi. "Ensis", in Latin, means "from".
Discovery
The remains of Sonidosaurus were discovered in the Iren Dabasu (aka Erlian) Formation at Saihangaobi Town, 15 km southwest of Erenhot (aka Erlian) City, Sonid Zuoqi, Nei Mongol Autonomous Region, China, by an expedition team from the Department of Land and Resources of Nei Mongol in 2001.
The holotype (LH V 0010, housed at the Long Hao Geologic and Paleontological Research Center) is a partial skeleton including five back (dorsal) vertebrae, the last hip (sacral) vertebra, one tail (caudal) vertebra, several ribs, one bone from the underside of the tail (chevron) which protects nerves and blood vessels, and a partial hip (left and right ilia, partial left pubis, and both ischia).
Preparators
Technicians of the Long Hao Geologic and Paleontological Research Center.
