The type fossil material was originally assigned to the sauropod genus Bothriospondylus. However, not only is Bothriospondylus considered a dubious genus of sauropod because of the lack of identifiable features upon the type material, but the type material came from England, a long way from Madagascar. For this reason the palaeontologist Jose Bonaparte renamed the Madagascan material as a new genus; Lapparentosaurus.
Lapparentosaurus is represented by several individuals, though the exact number is hard to determine. However, the individuals that do represent Lapparentosaurus are of different growth stages, allowing palaeontologists to get an idea of how Lapparentosaurus grew to adulthood. There is some uncertainty about whether Lapparentosaurus was a primitive member of the macronarian sauropods or a distinct brachiosaurid. Cladistic analysis has supported the idea Lapparentosaurus was a primitive macronarian, and this also ties in to the appearance of Lapparentosaurus in the Bathonian stage of the Jurassic, roughly where we would expect primitive macronarian sauropods to be. Brachiosaurids however, while still classed as macronarians themselves, are more advanced in form and do not become common until the late Jurassic (going by brachiosaurid fossil appearances in the fossil record).
Lapparentosaurus is represented by several individuals, though the exact number is hard to determine. However, the individuals that do represent Lapparentosaurus are of different growth stages, allowing palaeontologists to get an idea of how Lapparentosaurus grew to adulthood. There is some uncertainty about whether Lapparentosaurus was a primitive member of the macronarian sauropods or a distinct brachiosaurid. Cladistic analysis has supported the idea Lapparentosaurus was a primitive macronarian, and this also ties in to the appearance of Lapparentosaurus in the Bathonian stage of the Jurassic, roughly where we would expect primitive macronarian sauropods to be. Brachiosaurids however, while still classed as macronarians themselves, are more advanced in form and do not become common until the late Jurassic (going by brachiosaurid fossil appearances in the fossil record).
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