Ohmdenosaurus
"Ohmden lizard"
Type species Ohmdenosaurus liasicus
- Lived
- 183 to 180 million years ago, Early Jurassic
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Group
- Sauropods
- Found in
- Germany
- Named by
- Wild 1978
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
180 million years ago
Habitat
It lived on land in what is now Germany. Its bones were buried in the sea that laid down the Posidonia Shale, where ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs swam.
Field notes
About Ohmdenosaurus
What it was like
Ohmdenosaurus was an early sauropod, a long-necked plant eater. It is known only from a shin bone and ankle, which suggest a fairly small animal for a sauropod.
Its world
It lived in the Early Jurassic, in what is now Germany. It comes from the Posidonia Shale, rocks laid down in a sea, famous for ichthyosaurs and other marine reptiles. Its bones probably washed out from land.
How it was found
Wild named Ohmdenosaurus in 1978. The type species is Ohmdenosaurus liasicus. The bones were first thought to belong to a plesiosaur.
Field gallery
More views of Ohmdenosaurus
Scenes reconstructed from the available fossil evidence.
The evidence
The science behind Ohmdenosaurus
Which parts of the picture come from its own bones, and which come from its relatives.
From its own fossils
- Only a shin bone and ankle bones are known.
- The shin bone has a broad upper end and a stepped joint surface at the ankle.
Borrowed from relatives
- The head, long neck, torso and tail are restored from early sauropods such as Vulcanodon and Tazoudasaurus.
Still unknown
- Its full size and body proportions.
- Its exact place in the sauropod family tree.
- Its skin covering and color.
Discovery timeline
- 1978Named itWild
- 2015Close relativeStumpf, Ansorge & Krempien
- 2022Family treeFernández & Werneburg
Key papers
The research behind what we know of Ohmdenosaurus
Named it
Recognized a shin bone and ankle from marine rocks as a new land-dwelling sauropod, Ohmdenosaurus.
Ein Sauropoden-Rest (Reptilia, Saurischia) aus dem Posidonienschiefer (Lias, Toarcium) von Holzmaden [A new sauropod (Reptilia, Saurischia) from the Posidonienschiefer (Lias, Toarcian) of Holzmaden]. Stuttgarter Beiträge zur Naturkunde, Serie B (Geologie und Paläontologie) 41: 1-15
No link available
Close relative
Described other early sauropod bones from marine rocks in Germany and compared the region's sparse record with Ohmdenosaurus.
Gravisaurian sauropod remains from the marine late Early Jurassic (Lower Toarcian) of North-Eastern Germany. Geobios 48: 271-279
Read the paper : Gravisaurian sauropod remains from the marine late Early Jurassic (Lower Toarcian) of North-Eastern Germany (opens in a new tab)Family tree
Compared early long-necked dinosaurs and placed Ohmdenosaurus among sauropods using features of its shin bone.
A new massopodan sauropodomorph from Trossingen Formation (Germany) hidden as ‘ Plateosaurus’ for 100 years in the historical Tübingen collection. Vertebrate Zoology 72: 771-822
Read the paper : A new massopodan sauropodomorph from Trossingen Formation (Germany) hidden as ‘ Plateosaurus’ for 100 years in the historical Tübingen collection (opens in a new tab)
Close relatives
Other members of Sauropoda
Sources: Wikidata