The ontogeny of the dwarf sauropod Europasaurus holgeri and the phylogeny of basal Macronaria (Saurischia, Sauropoda)
Final Report Abstract
Europasaurus holgeri is a remarkable island dwarf sauropod dinosaur, one of the most spectacular discoveries in German paleontology in Germany in the last 50 years. The project being reported on here was aimed at the initial morphological description of this exceptional material which was completed despite the change in principal investigators during the middle of the project. Major results include detailed descriptions of cranial and postcranial axial skeletal morphology, the great ontogenetic change observable in this material, the surprising recognition of the existence of a small and a large morph (both being dwarfed), and new and greatly refined phylogenetic analysis of Europasaurus and macronarian sauropods in general. Additional research projects were spawned by this DFG project, most notably a major project funded by the VW foundation. Thus Europasaurus, the "pocket sauropod", is rapidly becoming a classic in the study of sauropod dinosaurs, the largest creatures that ever lived on land.
Publications
- 2009. A new basal sauropod dinosaur from the Middle Jurassic of Niger and the early evolution of Sauropoda. PLoS One 4(9):e6924
Remes, K., F. Ortega, I. Fierro, U. Joger, R. Kosma, J. M. Marín Ferrer, P. Paldes, N. Project, O. A. Ide, and A. Maga
- 2009. Taxonomy of Late Jurassic diplodocid sauropods from Tendaguru (Tanzania). Fossil Record 12(1):23-46.
Remes, K.
- 2010. Small body size and extreme cortical bone remodeling indicate phyletic dwarfism in Magyarosaurus dacus (Sauropoda: Titanosauria). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 107:9258-9263
Stein, K., Z. Csiki, K. Curry Rogers, D. B. Weishampel, R. Redelstorff, J. L. Carballido, and P. M. Sander
- 2011. Biology of the sauropod dinosaurs: the evolution of gigantism. Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society 86(1):117–155
Sander, P. M., A. Christian, M. Clauss, R. Fechner, C. T. Gee, E.-M. Griebeler, H.-C. Gunga, J. Hummel, H. Mallison, S. Perry, H. Preuschoft, O. Rauhut, K. Remes, T. Tütken, O. Wings, and U. Witzel
- 2011. Biology of the Sauropod Dinosaurs: Understanding the Life of Giants. Indiana University Press, Bloomington
Klein, N., K. Remes, C. T. Gee, and P. M. Sander, eds.
- 2011. Osteology and phylogenetic relationships of Tehuelchesaurus benitezii (Dinosauria, Sauropoda) from the Upper Jurassic of Patagonia. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 163(2): 605–662
Carballido, J. L., O. Rauhut, D. Pol, and L. Salgado
- 2011. Skeletal reconstruction of Brachiosaurus brancai in the Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin: summarizing 70 years of sauropod research. Pp. 305-316. In N. Klein, K. Remes, C. T. Gee, and P. M. Sander, eds. Biology of the 3 Sauropod Dinosaurs: Understanding the Life of Giants. Life of the Past (series ed. Farlow, J. O.). Indiana University Press, Bloomington and Indianapolis
Remes, K., D. M. Unwin, N. Klein, W. -D. Heinrich, and O. Hampe
- 2012. Modified laminar bone in Ampelosaurus atacis and other titanosaurs (Sauropoda): implications for life history and physiology. PLoS One 7(5):e36907
Klein, N., P. M. Sander, K. Stein, J. L. Loeuff, J. L. Carballido, and E. Buffetaut
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0036907) - 2012. New information on a juvenile sauropod specimen from the Morrison Formation and the reassessment of its systematic position. Palaeontology 55(3):567-582
Carballido, J. L., J. S. Marpmann, D. Schwarz-Wings, and B. Pabst
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4983.2012.01139.x)
