Shingopana (meaning "wide neck" in Swahili language) is a genus of sauropod from the Upper Cretaceous (late Campanian-early Maastrichtian
Discovery and naming
Part of the
holotype, TZ-07, was discovered in 2002 by scientists affiliated with the Rukwa Rift Basin Project, which was run by Patrick O'Connor and Nancy Stevens.
[Stevens, N.J., Gottfried, M.D., Roberts, E.M., Kapilima, S., Ngasala, S. and O'Connor, P.M. (2007). Paleontological exploration in Africa: A view from the Rukwa Rift Basin of Tanzania. Pp. 159–180 in Fleagle, J.G. and Gilbert, C.C. (eds.). Elwyn Simons: a search for origins. Springer, 460 pp. ] The rest of the skeleton was excavated during the following years. The species
Shingopana songwensis was officially named in 2017.
Description
Shingopana was a quadrupedal
Aeolosaurini sauropod that would have reached up to long when fully grown, smaller than the average sauropod.
Skeleton
The holotype was damaged by insect bore holes shortly after the animal died.
Shingopana is known from a partial jaw, represented by the angular bone. Shingopana is also known from four cervical vertebrae; with two of these vertebrae having preserved cervical ribs and another isolated cervical rib. Shingopana instead had remnants of a bulbous expansion on the incompletely preserved cervical vertebrae, which probably helped to strengthen its neck.
Four ribs have been preserved with the holotype, but none are complete. The ribs had flanged edges, but their function is currently unknown.
An almost complete humerus and a partial pubis were also present in the holotype.
Palaeoecology
The holotype was discovered in the
Upper Cretaceous Galula Formation of the Rukwa Rift Basin in Tanzania. It would have coexisted with the sauropods
Rukwatitan and
Mnyamawamtuka,the
mesoeucrocodylia Pakasuchus and
Rukwasuchus,
the mammal
Galulatherium,
an unnamed
notosuchian, an unnamed
turtle, an unnamed
theropod and two types of
lungfish (
Lupaceradotus and an unnamed genus).
See also
-
2017 in archosaur paleontology
