Monday, April 18, 2016

Many worlds of April. Saga of the Jurassic. Abrosaurus

 The lightly built skull of Abrosaurus‭ (‬which is the inspiration for the name‭ ‘‬delicate lizard‭’) ‬clearly indicates that it was a macronarian sauropod,‭ ‬similar to genera such as Brachiosaurus and Camarasaurus.‭ ‬Camarasaurus in‭ ‬particular has been considered to be a very close relative of Abrosaurus because they both seem to represent basal‭ (‬primitive‭) ‬genera that were on the way to becoming more advanced like the later macronarian sauropods.‭ ‬The idea is tentative however because most descriptions of Abrosaurus centre around the skull and not the additional post cranial skeletal fossils that were later attributed to it.‭ ‬While future study of these remains may well confirm the idea that Abrosaurus is closely related to Camarasaurus,‭ ‬they may also reveal something unexpected.
       Abrosaurus likely shared is habitat with other sauropods like Omeisaurus,‭ ‬Shunosaurus and Dashanpusaurus‭ (‬another possible relative of Camarasaurus‭)‬ as well as other types of herbivorous dinosaur such as Agilisaurus and Huayangosaurus,‭ ‬all dinosaurs known from the same fossil formation as Abrosaurus.‭ ‬Numerous predatory dinosaurs are also known from the Lower Shaximiao Formation,‭ ‬but one in particular is Yangchuanosaurus,‭ ‬a particularly large theropod dinosaur that may have been able to tackle an Abrosaurus.

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