Datousaurus


Datousaurus is a sauropod dinosaur from the Middle Jurassic Lower Shaximiao Formation in Sichuan province, China. It shared the local Middle Jurassic landscape with other sauropods such as Shunosaurus, Omeisaurus, and Protognathosaurus, the neornithischian Xiaosaurus, and the early stegosaur Huayangosaurus as well as the carnivorous Gasosaurus.

Discovery and species

Datousaurus was named by Dong Zhiming and Tang Zilu in 1984. To date, only two partial skeletons have been discovered. Neither had an articulated skull, although one skull has been discovered that has been attributed to the genus.
D. bashanensis is the only established species. The species epithet refers to the discovery of the species in Sichuan; it is derived from "the mountains of Ba and rivers of Shu", a popular way of poetically referring to the landscape of Sichuan.

Paleobiology

Datousaurus was about 15 metres long and herbivorous. It had a deep large skull for a sauropod. The rarity of its fossils suggest that it may not have been as social as other sauropods, which are often preserved in large numbers in a single deposit.

''Datousaurus'' and ''Shunosaurus''

Datousaurus and Shunosaurus were both closely related animals with similar anatomies. However, Datousaurus's elongated vertebrae gave it a higher reach and its teeth were more spoon shaped. This may be a sign that these contemporaries fed on different plants and/or at different heights in the trees. This strategy may have reduced competition between the two genera. A similar pattern of height difference possibly associated with feeding behaviors is found in the diplodocids.