Abstract
Sauropod dinosaurs are one of the most conspicuous groups of Mesozoic terrestrial vertebrates. They show general trends towards an overall increase in size and elongation of the neck, by means of considerable elongation of the length of individual vertebrae and a cervical vertebra count that, in some cases, increases to 19 (ref. 1). The long neck is a particular hallmark of sauropod dinosaurs and is usually regarded as a key feeding adaptation2. Here we describe a new dicraeosaurid sauropod, from the latest Jurassic period of Patagonia, that has a particularly short neck. With a neck that is about 40% shorter than in other known dicraeosaurs3,4, this taxon demonstrates a trend opposite to that seen in most sauropods and indicates that the ecology of dicraeosaurids might have differed considerably from that of other sauropods. The new taxon indicates that there was a rapid radiation and dispersal of dicraeosaurids in the Late Jurassic of the Southern Hemisphere, after the separation of Gondwana from the northern continents by the late Middle Jurassic.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on SpringerLink
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Upchurch, P., Barrett, P. M. & Dodson, P. in The Dinosauria 2nd edn (eds Weishampel, D. B., Dodson, P. & Osmólska, H.) 259–322 (Univ. California Press, Berkeley, 2004)
Upchurch, P. & Barrett, P. M. in Evolution of Herbivory in Terrestrial Vertebrates. Perspectives from the Fossil Record (ed. Sues, H.-D.) 79–122 (Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, 2000)
Janensch, W. Übersicht über die Wirbeltierfauna der Tendaguruschichten, nebst einer kurzen Charakterisierung der neu aufgeführten Arten von Sauropoden. Archiv Biontol 3, 81–110 (1914)
Salgado, L. & Bonaparte, J. F. Un nuevo sauropodo Dicraeosauridae, Amargasaurus cazaui gen. et sp. nov., de la Formacion La Amarga, Neocomiano de la Provincia del Neuquen Argentina. Ameghiniana 28, 333–346 (1991)
Proserpio, C. A. Descripción geológica de la Hoja 44 e, Valle General Racedo, Pcia del Chubut. Dirección Nacional de Minería y Geología Boletin 201, 1–102 (1987)
Janensch, W. Die Wirbelsäule der Gattung Dicraeosaurus . Palaeontographica 2(suppl. 7), 35–133 (1929)
Bonaparte, J. F. Evolución de las vértebras presacras en Sauropodomorpha. Ameghiniana 36, 115–187 (1999)
Wilson, J. A. A nomenclature for vertebral laminae in sauropods and other saurischian dinosaurs. J. Vertebr. Paleontol. 19, 639–653 (1999)
Wilson, J. A. Sauropod dinosaur phylogeny: critique and cladistic analysis. Zool. J. Linn. Soc. 136, 217–276 (2002)
Janensch, W. Die Gliedmaszen und Gliedmaszengürtel der Sauropoden der Tendaguru-Schichten. Palaeontographica 3(suppl. 7), 177–235 (1961)
Weishampel, D. B., et al. in The Dinosauria 2nd edn (eds Weishampel, D. B., Dodson, P. & Osmólska, H.) 517–606 (Univ. of California Press, Berkeley, 2004)
Maier, G. African Dinosaurs Unearthed: The Tendaguru Expeditions (Indiana Univ. Press, Bloomington, 2003)
Remes, K. in Geobiologie. 74. Jahrestagung der Paläontologischen Gesellschaft (Göttingen, 2–8th October 2004). Kurzfassungen der Vorträge und Poster (eds Reitner, J., Reich, M. & Schmidt, G.) 195–196 (Universitätsdrucke Göttingen, Göttingen, 2004)
Ouyang, H. & Ye, Y. The First Mamenchisaurian Skeleton with Complete Skull: Mamenchisaurus youngi (Sichuan Science and Technology Press, Chengdu, 2002)
Bakker, R. T. Dinosaur feeding behaviour and the origin of flowering plants. Nature 274, 661–663 (1978)
Martin, J. in Fourth Symposium on Mesozoic Terrestrial Ecosystems, Short Papers (eds Currie, P. J. & Koster, E. H.) 150–155 (Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology, Drumheller, Alberta, 1987)
Stevens, K. A. & Parrish, J. M. Neck posture and feeding habits of two Jurassic sauropod dinosaurs. Science 284, 798–800 (1999)
Christian, A. Neck posture and overall body design in sauropods. Mitt. Mus. Naturkunde Berlin Geowissenschaftl. Reihe 5, 271–281 (2002)
Barrett, P. M. & Upchurch, P. in Sixth Symposium on Mesozoic Terrestrial Ecosystems and Biota, Short Papers (eds Sun, A. & Wang, Y.) 107–110 (China Ocean Press, Beijing, 1995)
Foster, J. R. Relative abundance of the Sauropoda (Dinosauria, Saurischia) of the Morrison Formation and implications for Late Jurassic Paleoecology of North America. Mesa Southw. Mus. Bull. 8, 47–60 (2001)
Calvo, J. O. Jaw mechanics in sauropod dinosaurs. Gaia 10, 183–193 (1994)
Christiansen, P. Feeding mechanisms of the sauropod dinosaurs Brachiosaurus, Camarasaurus, Diplodocus, and Dicraeosaurus . Historical Biol. 14, 137–152 (2000)
Paul, G. S. in Dinofest International (eds Wolberg, D. L., Stump, E. & Rosenberg, G. D.) 129–154 (Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, 1997)
Acknowledgements
We thank D. Mesa, who found the specimen, and his family for their hospitality during the fieldwork; all the preparators and volunteers who helped with the excavation and preparation of the material; H. Mayr for his help with nomenclatorial questions; and A. López-Arbarello, P. Barrett and D. Unwin for critical comments. This project was supported by a German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) postdoctoral fellowship, and grants to O.W.M.R. from the Jurassic Foundation, BBC Horizon and the German Research Foundation (DFG).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
Reprints and permissions information is available at npg.nature.com/reprintsandpermissions. The authors declare no competing financial interests.
Supplementary information
Supplementary Data
Contains information on the procedures of the phylogenetic analysis, a list of characters, the data matrix and a list of synapomorphies exhibited by the new taxon. (RTF 76 kb)
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Rauhut, O., Remes, K., Fechner, R. et al. Discovery of a short-necked sauropod dinosaur from the Late Jurassic period of Patagonia. Nature 435, 670–672 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature03623
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature03623
This article is cited by
-
Rapid neck elongation in Sauropterygia (Reptilia: Diapsida) revealed by a new basal pachypleurosaur from the Lower Triassic of China
BMC Ecology and Evolution (2023)
-
Fossils of the oldest diplodocoid dinosaur suggest India was a major centre for neosauropod radiation
Scientific Reports (2023)
-
High browsing skeletal adaptations in Spinophorosaurus reveal an evolutionary innovation in sauropod dinosaurs
Scientific Reports (2020)
-
A new long-spined dinosaur from Patagonia sheds light on sauropod defense system
Scientific Reports (2019)
-
A new Middle Jurassic diplodocoid suggests an earlier dispersal and diversification of sauropod dinosaurs
Nature Communications (2018)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.