Zhuchengtitan
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Zhuchengtitan Temporal range: Campanian, 73.5 Ma |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Order: | Saurischia |
| Suborder: | †Sauropodomorpha |
| Clade: | †Sauropoda |
| Clade: | †Titanosauria |
| Family: | †Saltasauridae |
| Genus: |
†Zhuchengtitan Mo et al., 2017 |
| Type species | |
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Zhuchengtitan zangjiazhuangensis Mo et al., 2017 |
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Zhuchengtitan (meaning "Zhucheng titan") is a genus of titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Shandong, China. It contains a single species, Z. zangjiazhuangensis, named by Mo Jinyou and colleagues in 2017 from a single humerus. Zhuchengtitan can be identified by the extreme width of the top end of its humerus, as well as the expansion of the deltopectoral crest on its humerus; both of these characteristics indicate that it was likely closely related to Opisthocoelicaudia. However, it differs from the latter by the flatter bottom articulating surface of its humerus. Zhuchengtitan lived in a floodplain environment alongside Shantungosaurus, Zhuchengtyrannus, and Sinoceratops.
Zhuchengtitan is known from a single humerus that was discovered in the Wangshi Group within the region of Zhucheng, Shandong, China. The primary fossil localities within this region are the Longgujian, Kugou, and Zangjiazhuang Quarries. In 2008, researchers from the Zhucheng Dinosaur Culture Research Center uncovered the humerus and some other sauropod bones at the Zangjiazhuang Quarry; the humerus was catalogued as ZJZ-57 at the Center. While the humerus is mostly complete, the outer edge of the top end, all edges of the bottom end save for the rear edge, and the deltopectoral crest have all been partially lost to damage. Additionally, the preserved portions are twisted.
Locally, the Wangshi Group is further divided into two smaller units, the Xingezhuang and Hongtuya Formations. Deposits in the Xingezhuang Formation consist of multi-colored clastic rocks formed from siltstone, sandstone, and grey-colored clay, while deposits in the Hongtuya Formation consist of red interfingering layers of sandstone and conglomerate, capped at the top by a basalt layer. The boundary between the two is formed by sandy conglomerate and sandstone deposits; ZJZ-57 originates from this boundary.
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