| Tapuiasaurus | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Reconstructed skeleton,Museum of Zoology of the University of São Paulo | |
Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | Saurischia |
| Clade: | †Sauropodomorpha |
| Clade: | †Sauropoda |
| Clade: | †Macronaria |
| Clade: | †Titanosauria |
| Genus: | †Tapuiasaurus Zaheret al.2011 |
| Species: | †T. macedoi |
| Binomial name | |
| †Tapuiasaurus macedoi Zaheret al. 2011 | |
Tapuiasaurus (meaning "Tapuia lizard") is agenus oftitanosaur which lived during theLower Cretaceousperiod (Aptian age) in what is now Minas Gerais,Brazil.
Its fossils, including a partialskeleton with a nearly completeskull, have been recovered from theQuiricó Formation of theSão Francisco Basin inMinas Gerais, eastern Brazil. This genus was named a team of researchers led by Hussam Zaher, including Diego Pol, Alberto B. Carvalho, Paulo M. Nascimento akaPirula (YouTuber), Claudio Riccomini, Peter Larson, Rubén Juárez Valieri, Ricardo Pires Domingues, Nelson Jorge da Silva Jr. and Diógenes de Almeida Campos, in a2011 publication. Thetype species,Tapuiasaurus macedoi, was also described in this study.[1]
Tapuiasaurus was originally classified as a member of theNemegtosauridae family by its original describers, but subsequent cladistic analyses have revealed a more complex relationship. Wilsonet al. (2016) found that Tapuiasaurus falls outside theLithostrotia shade while Carballidoet al. (2017) discovered a close relationship between Tapuiasaurus and the Gondwanan lithostrotiansIsisaurus andRapetosaurus, suggesting a distant connection toNemegtosaurus.[2][3]
