Euhelopus | ||||
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Name | Euhelopus | |||
Order | Saurischia | |||
Suborder | Sauropodomorpha | |||
Class | Sauropsida | |||
Period | Cretaceous, 70 million years ago | |||
Location | Shandong Province, China | |||
Diet | herbivore | |||
Size | 49-50 feet(15 meters) | |||
Euhelopus is a genus of Euhelopodidae Sauropod dinosaur that lived during the Early Cretaceous, between 130 and 112 million years ago. It lived in what is now Shandong Province in China. A large herbivore, it weighed approximately 15-20 tons and attained an adult length of 15 meters (50 feet). Unlike most other sauropods, Euhelopus had longer fore legs than hind legs.
Description[]
Discovery and naming[]
It was originally named Helopus, meaning "Marsh Foot" by Carl 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 biological kingdom 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. Euhelopus is known from a partial skeleton composed of most of the neck and spinal column and a skull that was missing its teeth. The type material is in the Paleontological Museum of Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.