Jobaria is a primitive sauropod from the Jurassic period, its fossils are found in Africa.
Description[]
Jobaria reached lengths of 21 meters from head to tail, and weighed 22 tonnes.[1] Its neck is relatively short in comparison to other sauropods.
Classification[]
The exact classification of Jobaria is uncertain. It has been interpreted as both a basal macronarian and primitive eusauropod.[2]
Discovery[]
Jobaria was first found in 1997 in Niger's Tiourarén Formation, and the exceptionally complete skeleton was described in 1999 by Paul Sereno and colleagues.[3] It was named after a creature of local legend. Originally, the Tiourarén Formation was placed in Cretaceous age, but later research suggested that it actually dated to the mid-Jurassic .[4]
References[]
- ↑ Henderson, Donald M. (2006). "Burly Gaits: Centers of mass, stability, and the trackways of sauropod dinosaurs". Journal of Vertebrae Paleontology 26 (4): 907–921. doi:10.1671/0272-4634(2006)26[907:BGCOMS]2.0.CO;2.
- ↑ Upchurch, P.; Barrett, P. M. & Dodson, P. (2004). "Sauropoda". The Dinosauria (2nd edition ed.). University of California Press.
- ↑ Sereno et al., P. (November 1999). "Cretaceous Sauropods from the Sahara and the Uneven Rate of Skeletal Evolution Among Dinosaurs". Science 286 (5443): 1342–1347.
- ↑ Rauhut and Lopez-Arbarello (2009). "Considerations on the age of the Tiouaren Formation (Iullemmeden Basin, Niger, Africa): Implications for Gondwanan Mesozoic terrestrial vertebrate faunas." Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 271: 259-267.