Euhelopus

Euhelopus (Information about this image)

Euhelopus Fossil range: Late Jurassic
Conservation status
Fossil
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Sauropsida Superorder: Dinosauria Order: Saurischia Suborder: Sauropodomorpha Infraorder: Sauropoda Family: Euhelopodidae Genus: Euhelopus
Binomial name
Euhelopus zdanskyi Wiman, 1929

Euhelopus was a genus of sauropod dinosaur from the Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian stage, around 150 million years ago). It lived in what is now Shandong Province in China. A large herbivore, it weighed approximately 20 tons.

Discovery and Species

It was originally named Helopus, meaning "Marsh Foot" by Wiman in 1929, but this name already belonged to a bird. It was renamed Euhelopus in 1956 by Romer. There is a plant genus (a grass) with the same generic name. However, a genus in one kingdom (biology) is allowed to bear a name that is in use as a genus name in another kingdom, and the name Euhelopus has been allowed. The type species is Euhelopus zdanskyi. The type material is in the Paleontological Museum of Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.

References

* Fastovsky DE, Weishampel DB (2005). "Sauropodomorpha: the big, the bizarre and the majestic", in Fastovsky DE, Weishampel DB: The Evolution and Extinction of the Dinosaurs (2nd Edition). Cambridge University Press, 229–264. ISBN 0-521-81172-4.

External links

* Euhelopus in The Dinosaur Encyclopaedia at Dino Russ' Lair