New Jurassic Sauropodomorph Dinosaur Unveiled

Sci-News.com ^ | Oct 1, 2018 | News Staff / Source

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Named Ledumahadi mafube, the new dinosaur species weighed 12 tons, stood about 13 feet high at the hips, and is one of the closest relatives of sauropod dinosaurs.

Sauropods, weighing up to 60 tons, include well-known species like Brontosaurus. They ate plants and stood on four legs, with a posture like modern elephants.

Ledumahadi mafube evolved its giant size independently from sauropods.

“It shows us that even as far back as 200 million years ago, these animals had already become the largest vertebrates to ever walk the Earth,” said Professor Jonah Choiniere, a researcher in the Evolutionary Studies Institute at the University of the Witwatersrand.

“Many giant dinosaurs walked on four legs but had ancestors that walked on two legs,” said Professor Roger Benson, a scientist in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Oxford and the Evolutionary Studies Institute at the University of the Witwatersrand.

“Paleontologists want to know about this evolutionary change, but amazingly, no-one came up with a simple method to tell how each dinosaur walked, until now.”

-snip-

The method involved taking measurements of the thickness of dinosaur’s limbs to infer their weight and how many limbs that weight must have been carried on.

The team’s findings suggest not only that this dinosaur was a quadruped, but also that many other early sauropodomorph dinosaurs (often called ‘prosauropods’) were experimenting with walking on all fours.

“The discovery shows that gigantic body sizes were possible in early four-legged prosauropods, which arose from earlier two-legged species,” the paleontologists said.

“However, the early quadrupeds lacked the columnar, elephant-like limb postures of later sauropod species such as Brontosaurus.”

“The evolution of sauropods isn’t quite as straightforward as we once thought,” Professor Choiniere said.

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An artist’s reconstruction of Ledumahadi mafube foraging in the Early Jurassic of South Africa;
in the foreground, Heterodontosaurus. Image credit: Viktor Radermacher, University of the Witwatersrand

Selected preserved elements of Ledumahadi mafube and geography and stratigraphy of type locality: (A) middle/posterior cervical vertebra in left lateral view; (B) anterior dorsal vertebra in anterior and right lateral views; (C) middle dorsal vertebra in posterior and right lateral views; (D) first and second ‘primordial’ sacral vertebrae in left lateral view; (E) anterior caudal vertebra in left lateral view; (F) right ulna in proximal and medial views; (G) first metacarpal in proximal and dorsal/ventral views; (H) left third metacarpal in proximal and ventral views; (I) pedal ungual in lateral and proximal views; (J) anterior chevron in posterior view; and (K) distal right femur in distal, lateral, and anterior views; (L) simplified geological map of the Elliot Formation in the Republic of South Africa and Lesotho indicating the location of farm Beginsel and aerial extent of the Elliot Formation outcrop area; (M) landscape view of the local geology at the Ledumahadi site; note that the contact of the lower and upper Elliot Formations (LEF and UEF, respectively) has been identified at 5,530 feet (1,685 m) above sea level; thus the UEF is 197 feet (60 m) thick; the poorly exposed LEF, which is 33 feet (10 m) thick here, only contains massive mudstones with very weakly developed pedogenic alteration features, green-gray mottles, and very rare desiccation cracks. Abbreviations: ap – anterior process; ns – neural spine; op – olecranon process; poz – postzygapophysis; rf – radial fossa; sr – sacral rib; tfc – tibiofibular crest; vt – ventral tubercle. Scale bars – 5 cm. Image credit: McPhee et al, doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2018.07.063.

[Moonman62]

The method involved taking measurements of the thickness of dinosaur’s limbs to infer their weight and how many limbs that weight must have been carried on.

The team’s findings suggest not only that this dinosaur was a quadruped, but also that many other early sauropodomorph dinosaurs (often called ‘prosauropods’) were experimenting with walking on all fours.

...

How long before Michael Moore, Oprah, and Rosie start experimenting with walking on all fours?

[Moonman62]

I was reading today that crocodilians had ancestors that could briefly walk on their hind legs.

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Brontosaurus

Brontosaurus, meaning “thunder lizard”), is a genus of gigantic quadruped sauropod dinosaurs.

Although the type species, B. excelsus, had long been considered a species of the closely related Apatosaurus,[3] more recent research has proposed that Brontosaurus is a genus separate from Apatosaurus that contains three species: B. excelsus, B. yahnahpin, and B. parvus.[4]

Brontosauruses (or brontosauri) had long, thin necks and small heads adapted for a herbivorous lifestyle; bulky, heavy torsos; and long, whip-like tails. The various species lived during the late Jurassic epoch in the Morrison Formation of North America and were extinct by the end of the Jurassic.[5]

Adult brontosauruses are estimated to weigh up to 15 tonnes (15 long tons; 17 short tons) and measure up to 22 metres (72 ft) long.

As the archetypal sauropod, Brontosaurus is one of the best-known dinosaurs and has been featured in film, advertising, and postage stamps, as well as many other types of media.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brontosaurus

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"Brontosauruses had long, thin necks and small heads adapted for a herbivorous lifestyle; bulky, heavy torsos; and long, whip-like tails."

Anne Elk: ...All brontosauruses are thin at one end; much, much thicker in the middle and then thin again at the far end. That is the theory that I have and which is mine and what it is, too.

[antidemoncrat]

Great drawing. Looks like the small dinosaur is sniffing the big one’s butt. Maybe they were more like dogs than previously known.

[null and void]

ping

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

***...species like Brontosaurus. They ate plants and stood on four legs, with a posture like modern elephants.***

But, but 65 years ago we were taught not to question that brontosaurs were so heavy they could not walk on land but needed the swamps to buoy up their weight. All illustrations from that time showed them in water.

And Tyranasaurs walked upright like a man with their tails dragging the ground.

Wonder what they will decide what the dinos did in another sixty years. Maybe danced a do-see-do?

[Hot Tabasco]

I’ve always wondered how creatures that large could have evolved from muck.......

[BigEdLB]

Michael Moore already does in private.

[unlearner]

Let me be the first to say that I have very serious concerns with them coming out with new dinosaurs. Very serious concerns.

[alstewartfan]

They didn’t evolve, of course. The whole idea is laughable. But I find the word “new” interesting. Has anyone seen one of these recently?

[alstewartfan]

Where can I hide now, since thick leaves are causing more choking carbon monoxide gases? Oh, it’s carbon DIoxide? That sounds TWICE as scary.

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But, but 65 years ago we were taught not to question that brontosaurs were so heavy they could not walk on land but needed the swamps to buoy up their weight. All illustrations from that time showed them in water.

Lol! I still remember the post cards that my mom bought me on one of our several trips to the American Museum of Natural History here in New York City during the '60s. Learned about 10 years ago the cards actually depicted a portion of a much larger 'famous' painting. I recall one with a Brontosaurus, and another with an Allosaurus, or T-Rex?

It was around the same time as the 1964 World's Fair in Queens, NY. There they had a dinosaur exhibit sponsered by the Sinclair oil or gas company. Don't know if they're still in business.

[Yaelle]

Happened to see a little mini-dino the other day take a run on two legs. A little bluebelly lizard was walking around the yard but got scared and picked up its forequarters and ran on two legs for a spell. It reminded me of that phase of Dinos who could do just that when they needed to.

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Great drawing. Looks like the small dinosaur is sniffing the big one’s butt.

I think the artist must be at least half a fruitcake. Pink dinosaur?

[BlueLancer]

Happened to see a little mini-dino the other day take a run on two legs.

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[BlueLancer]

Waltzin’ Komodo,
Waltzin’ Komodo,
Who’ll come a Waltzing Komodo with me ...

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