Hudiesaurus

Hudiesaurus was an immense sauropod dinosaur that roamed the landscapes of northwestern China during the Late Jurassic period. Discovered in the Turpan Basin of Xinjiang, the type material comprises an enormous, incomplete dorsal vertebra, while a referred specimen includes teeth and a forelimb. The generic name refers to the distinctive winglike, butterfly-shaped laminae on the neural spine of the back vertebra. With this single vertebra measuring over half a metre in height, palaeontologists estimate that Hudiesaurus was a giant mamenchisaurid reaching roughly 30 metres from snout to tail tip. Like other members of its family, it possessed a long neck suited for sweeping wide swathes of foliage. As a bulky quadruped, Hudiesaurus was among the largest known Jurassic dinosaurs in eastern Asia.

Its name derives from butterfly-shaped ridges formed by the neural processes on its dorsal vertebra.

Where and when

Hudiesaurus lived in the Late Jurassic, from 152 to 145 million years ago (Kimmeridgian-Tithonian age). Its remains come from China, in the Shishugou Formation.

The numbers

Length 30 m (estimates run from 28 to 32 m). Mass about 40 t. Hip height about 5.5 m. That is 17.6 human-lengths, or 2.68 of a double-decker bus. These are estimates from fragmentary remains; fields marked estimated by the site are length, mass, first ma, last ma, hip height.

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