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Jobaria

Restoration

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[]

  1. 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.
  2. Upchurch, P.; Barrett, P. M. & Dodson, P. (2004). "Sauropoda". The Dinosauria (2nd edition ed.). University of California Press.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
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