Asiatosaurus

Asiatosaurus Temporal range: Early Cretaceous, 122–112 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Holotype tooth of A. mongoliensis (AMNH 6264) seen from three different angles
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Clade:	Dinosauria
Clade:	Saurischia
Clade:	†Sauropodomorpha
Clade:	†Sauropoda
Genus:	†Asiatosaurus Osborn, 1924
Type species
†Asiatosaurus mongoliensis Osborn, 1924
Other species
†A. kwangshiensis Hou, Yeh & Zhao, 1975
Synonyms
Asiatosaurus mongolicus (lapsus calami)

Asiatosaurus (meaning "Asian lizard") is an extinct genus of herbivorous sauropod dinosaur which lived during the Early Cretaceous in Mongolia and China.[1] The type species is known only from teeth, making it difficult to rely on information until more specimens are found to expand our knowledge, and another species is known, also based on scant remains; both are now classified as nomina dubia.

Species

Asiatosaurus mongoliensis

The type species, A. mongoliensis, was described by Osborn, in 1924, based on AMNH 6264, a broken tooth from the Öösh Formation of Övörkhangai Province, Mongolia.[2] It was the first sauropod genus named from East-Asia.

cf. Asiatosaurus mongoliensis is known from the Shengjinkou Formation of China.[3]

Asiatosaurus kwangshiensis

A. kwangshiensis, the second species, was described by Hou, Yeh and Zhao, in 1975 based on IVPP V4794, a tooth, three cervical vertebrae and multiple ribs from the Xinlong Formation of Guangxi, China. The genus was classified within Brachiosauridae by Hou et al. in 1975,[4] and considered a euhelopodid by Poropat et al. in 2022.[5]

References

1. P. Upchurch, P. M. Barrett, and P. Dodson. (2004). Sauropoda. In D. B. Weishampel, H. Osmolska, and P. Dodson (eds.), The Dinosauria (2nd edition). University of California Press, Berkeley 259-322
2. Osborn, H.F. (1924). "Sauropoda and Theropoda from the Lower Cretaceous of Mongolia". American Museum Novitates (128): 1–7.
3. Dong (1973a) Dong ZM. Cretaceous stratigraphy of Wuerho District, Dsungar (Zunggar) Basin. Reports of Paleontological Expedition to Sinkiang (II): Pterosaurian Fauna from Wuerho, Sinkiang. Memoirs of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology Academia Sinica. 1973a;11:1–7.
4. Hou, L.H.; Yeh, H.K.; Zhao, X.J. (1975). "Fossil reptiles from Fusui, Kwangshi" (PDF). Vertebrata PalAsiatica. 13 (1): 24–33.
5. Poropat, S.F.; Frauenfelder, T.G.; Mannion, P.D.; Rigby, S.L.; Pentland, A.H.; Sloan, T.; Elliott, D.A. (2022). "Sauropod dinosaur teeth from the lower Upper Cretaceous Winton Formation of Queensland, Australia and the global record of early titanosauriforms". Royal Society Open Science. 9 (7): 220381. doi:10.1098/rsos.220381. PMID 35845848.