Dinosaurs A to Z
Mamenchisauridae

Tonganosaurus

Generic sauropod body-plan outline
You 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall
Tonganosaurus 12 m (38 ft) long
as long as 7 people standing fingertip to fingertip
generic sauropod body plan, scaled to length — not a silhouette of Tonganosaurus
Length
12 m (38 ft)
Period
Early Jurassic (184.5 Mya)
Place
Asia · China
Food
Herbivore
Clade
Mamenchisauridae

Tonganosaurus (named for the town of Tong’an, Sichuan where it was found) is a genus of mamenchisaurid sauropod dinosaur, similar to Omeisaurus. It is known from one specimen consisting of twenty vertebrae, a front limb and pectoral girdle, and a complete hind limb with partial hip. It was discovered in the Yimen Formation, China. The horizon of the specimen and the age of the Yimen Formation is controversial. The formation has been divided into three levels, and Tonganosaurus appears to be of late Early Jurassic (Pliensbachian) in age. Tonganosaurus is the oldest known member of the mamenchisaurids, being almost 15 million years older than the next-oldest members of the group. It was first named by Li Kui, Yang Chun-Yan, Liu Jian, and Wang Zheng-Xin in 2010, and the type species is Tonganosaurus hei.

What we know

  • Named by Li et al., 2010.
  • Body length estimated at about 11.6 m.
  • Fossils found in Asia and China.

What we guess

The reconstruction notes for Tonganosaurus — soft tissue, color, behavior — haven't been written up yet. Only the recorded basics above are filled in so far.