Wamweracaudia
"Wamwera tail"
- Lived
- 149 to 143 million years ago, Late Jurassic
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Group
- Sauropods, Mamenchisauridae
- Found in
- Tanzania
- Named by
- Mannion et al. 2019
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
145 million years ago
Habitat
A coastal plain with tidal flats and lagoons, with conifers growing inland. Giraffatitan, Dicraeosaurus and Kentrosaurus lived in the same region.
Field notes
About Wamweracaudia
What it was like
Wamweracaudia was a large long-necked sauropod known from a series of tail bones. It may be related to Mamenchisaurus, which would make it the first member of that family known from Africa.
Its world
It lived in the Late Jurassic in what is now Tanzania. Its bones come from the Tendaguru Formation, a rich site shared with the giant Giraffatitan, the spiked Kentrosaurus and the predators Ceratosaurus and Elaphrosaurus.
How it was found
Mannion and colleagues named it in 2019. Its bones had long been placed in another genus. The name honors a local people.
Field gallery
More views of Wamweracaudia
Scenes reconstructed from the available fossil evidence.
Lived alongside
Found in the same rock formations
A rock formation can hold fossils laid down millions of years apart, so not every animal here met Wamweracaudia.
The evidence
The science behind Wamweracaudia
Which parts of the picture come from its own bones, and which come from its relatives.
From its own fossils
- The type specimen consists of an articulated series of tail vertebrae, separate bony spines and incomplete chevrons, the bones beneath the tail.
- The front tail vertebrae have deeply hollowed front faces, a feature shared with mamenchisaurids.
- An isolated tail vertebra from another locality has also been referred to Wamweracaudia.
Borrowed from relatives
- Its missing neck is compared with Mamenchisaurus.
Still unknown
- The length of its neck and the proportions of its body.
- Its skin texture and color.
- Whether it lived in herds.
Discovery timeline
- 2009Its worldBussert, Heinrich & Aberhan
- 2019Named itMannion et al.
- 2023Family treeMoore et al.
Key papers
The research behind what we know of Wamweracaudia
Its world
Reconstructed a coastline with tidal channels, flats and lagoons from the rocks that contain the dinosaur fossils.
The Tendaguru Formation (Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous, southern Tanzania): definition, palaeoenvironments, and sequence stratigraphy. Fossil Record 12: 141-174
Read the paper : The Tendaguru Formation (Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous, southern Tanzania): definition, palaeoenvironments, and sequence stratigraphy (opens in a new tab)Named it
Separated the tail bones from Janenschia and identified an African member of the mamenchisaurid family.
Taxonomic affinities of the putative titanosaurs from the Late Jurassic Tendaguru Formation of Tanzania: phylogenetic and biogeographic implications for eusauropod dinosaur evolution. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 185: 784-909
Read the paper : Taxonomic affinities of the putative titanosaurs from the Late Jurassic Tendaguru Formation of Tanzania: phylogenetic and biogeographic implications for eusauropod dinosaur evolution (opens in a new tab)Family tree
Studied Mamenchisaurus neck bones, finding extensive air spaces and long ribs that may have stabilized its neck.
Re-assessment of the Late Jurassic eusauropod Mamenchisaurus sinocanadorum Russell and Zheng, 1993, and the evolution of exceptionally long necks in mamenchisaurids. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 21
Read the paper : Re-assessment of the Late Jurassic eusauropod Mamenchisaurus sinocanadorum Russell and Zheng, 1993, and the evolution of exceptionally long necks in mamenchisaurids (opens in a new tab)
Close relatives
Other members of Mamenchisauridae
Sources: Wikidata