| Fukuititan | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Fossil elements on display in Japan | |
Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | Saurischia |
| Clade: | †Sauropodomorpha |
| Clade: | †Sauropoda |
| Clade: | †Macronaria |
| Clade: | †Titanosauriformes |
| Genus: | †Fukuititan Azuma & Shibata,2010 |
| Type species | |
| Fukuititan nipponensis Azuma & Shibata, 2010 | |
Fukuititan (meaning "giant fromFukui prefecture") is agenus ofsauropoddinosaur that lived during theEarly Cretaceous (eitherBarremian orAptian age) in theKitadani Formation in what is nowJapan. The genus contains a single species,Fukuititan nipponensis. The discovery ofFukuititan shed light on Japanese titanosauriforms, which are generally very poorly-known.[1]
The fossils that would eventually be namedFukuititan were discovered in the summer of 2007 at the Kitadani Dinosaur Quarry, near theSugiyama River, by an expedition in association with theFukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum, which is where the specimen would eventually be reposited. Theholotype and only specimen ofFukuititan, given the specimen number FPDM-V8468, was described in2010 by Japanese scientists Yoichi Azuma and Masateru Shibata, who were working for the museum in which it was stored. It was given the species epithet"nipponensis", which means "fromJapan".[1]
Fukuititan was a medium-sized sauropod. The authors of its description did not give a precise estimate of its size, but subsequent authors have suggested a full length of 16.1 m (53 ft) long, a height of 5.75 m (18.9 ft) tall at the shoulder, and a mass of 5.75 t (5.66 long tons; 6.34 short tons).[1][2]Gregory S. Paul later suggested that theholotype ofFukuititan represents an immature individual, and therefore no concrete estimates of its adult size can be made.[3]
The holotype specimen was discovered within an area of 150 square metres (1,600 sq ft). In spite of this being a relatively large area, the lack of repeated elements led Azuma and Shibata to infer that all of the remains represent a single individual. The elements known include two partialcervical vertebrae, three vertebrae from the end of the tail, part of the leftscapula, bothhumeri, bothradii, a rightmetacarpal, bothischia, a partial rightfemur andtibia, the leftfibula, a single toe bone, three teeth, and several indeterminate bone fragments.Fukuititan can be distinguished from all other titanosauriformes by the presence of a stalk-likeepipophysis of the cervical vertebrae, a relatively wide humerus, metacarpals about half the length of the radius, and several features of the teeth.[1]
The lack of any remains from theskull orribs ofFukuititan makes its affinities somewhat difficult to determine. Features of thecaudal vertebrae and theco-ossification of theischia lend support to its inclusion withinTitanosauriformes. However, when they describedFukuititan, Azuma and Shibata remarked that a more specific phylogenetic placement was impossible to assign based on the incompleteness of the remains.[1] Some subsequent analyses have omittedFukuititan from theirphylogenetic analyses because its incomplete nature makes its placement unstable.[4] Other authors have suggested that it is closely related toTastavinsaurus and its relatives. An abbreviated cladogram from a 2024 analysis by Yang F. Han and colleagues is shown below.[5]
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