Dinosaurs / Cretaceous / Tangvayosaurus
Tangvayosaurus
Cretaceous tang-vy-oh-SAWR-us, “Tang Vay lizard”
Tangvayosaurus is a basal titanosaur discovered in the Savannakhet Basin of southern Laos. Named in 1999 by Ronan Allain and colleagues, its fossils come from the Early Cretaceous Grès supérieurs Formation. The remains comprise partial skeletons from several individuals, including tail vertebrae, ribs, pelvic elements, and limb bones. Measuring around fourteen metres in total length and weighing roughly ten tonnes, Tangvayosaurus was a mid-sized sauropod. It roamed subtropical floodplains where it grazed on low-to-medium foliage. Tangvayosaurus is closely related to Phuwiangosaurus from neighbouring Thailand, demonstrating that titanosauriform sauropods had diversified extensively across Southeast Asia during the Early Cretaceous.
It is one of the very few well-documented sauropods known from the Cretaceous period of Southeast Asia.
Where and when
Tangvayosaurus lived in the Early Cretaceous, from 125 to 113 million years ago (Aptian age). Its remains come from Laos, in the Grès supérieurs Formation.
The numbers
Length 14 m (estimates run from 13 to 15 m). Mass about 9.8 t. Hip height about 3 m. That is 8.2 human-lengths, or 1.25 of a double-decker bus. These are estimates from partial skeleton; fields marked estimated by the site are length, mass, first ma, last ma, hip height.