Lapparentosaurus (meaning Lapparent's reptile) is a genus of brachiosaurid sauropod dinosaur from the Bathonian stage of the Middle Jurassic, 165 million years ago. Its fossils were discovered and found in Madagascar, in the Isalo III Formation off the eastern coast of Africa.
Discovery and naming[]
In 1895, a English naturalist named Richard Lydekker named a new species of Bothriospondylus, B. madagascariensis, based on fossils found by Joseph Thomas, a English missionary. Later, José Fernando Bonaparte moved the specimen to a separate genus, Lapparentosaurus madagascariensis.
Classification[]
It closely related to the more famous Brachiosaurus. Clark & Rasoamiaramana recovered a similar position with Lapparentosaurus being part of a paraphyletic Cetiosauridae also including a multitude of similar Middle Jurassic cetiosaurids such as Chebsaurus, Ferganasaurus, and Cetiosaurus.