Genus
Valid Extinct

Euhelopus

Romer 1956

Euhelopus is a genus of sauropod dinosaur that lived between 143 and 133 million years ago during the Berriasian and Valanginian ages of the Early Cretaceous in what is now Shandong Province in China. It was a large quadrupedal herbivore. Like sauropods such as brachiosaurids and titanosaurs, Euhelopus had longer forelimbs than hindlimbs. This discovery was paleontologically significant because it represented the first dinosaur scientifically investigated from China: seen in 1913, rediscovered in 1922, excavated in 1923, and studied by T'an during the same year. Unlike most sauropod specimens, it has a relatively complete skull. Euhelopus was a long-necked sauropod similar to Mamenchisaurus, but its affinities are controversial. Most studies favor a close relationship between Euhelopus and titanosaurs, rather than mamenchisaurids.

Temporal range
Triassic
Jurassic
Cretaceous
Paleogene
Neogene
252 201 145 66 0 Ma
PBDB occurrences
5
Group
Dinosaures
Herbivore Ground dwelling, gregarious Terrestrial
Euhelopus
click to enlarge
Wikimedia
PBDB Wikipedia
Classification
Dinosauria Unranked clade
Saurischia Unranked clade
Sauropodomorpha Unranked clade
Massopoda Unranked clade
Sauropodiformes Unranked clade
Sauropoda Unranked clade
Gravisauria Unranked clade
Eusauropoda Unranked clade
Neosauropoda Unranked clade
Macronaria Unranked clade
Titanosauriformes Unranked clade
Somphospondyli Unranked clade
Euhelopodidae Unranked clade
Euhelopus Genus
Measurements
Length
12,9 m
Euhelopus zdanskyi
10 m
Mass
6 200 kg
Euhelopus zdanskyi
Fossil sites 5 geolocated sites
Distribution
Top countries
🇨🇳 China
5
Geological formations
Mengyin
2
Yixian
1
Shahai
1
Temporal distribution
Albian (113.2–100.5 Ma)
1
Aptian (121.4–113.2 Ma)
1
Barremian (125.77–121.4 Ma)
1
Berriasian (143.1–137.05 Ma)
2
Species (1)
Euhelopus zdanskyi 143 Ma
Synonyms (1)
Helopus replaced by Euhelopus
Images 5
Bibliography
Original description
A. S. Romer. 1956. Osteology of the Reptiles, University of Chicago Press
Bibliography (4)
R. Amiot, N. Kusuhashi, and X. Xu, Y. Wang. 2010. Isolated dinosaur teeth from the Lower Cretaceous Shahai and Fuxin formations of northeastern China. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 39:347-358 DOI ↗
P. M. Barrett and X.-L. Wang. 2007. Basal titanosauriform (Dinosauria: Sauropoda) teeth from the Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation of Liaoning Province, China. Palaeoworld 16:265-271 DOI ↗
Z.-M. Dong. 1994. The field activities of the Sino-Canadian Dinosaur Project in China, 1987-1990. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 30(10-11):1997-2001 DOI ↗
C. Wiman. 1929. Die Kreide-Dinosaurier aus Shantung [The Cretaceous dinosaurs of Shantung]. Palaeontologia Sinica, Series C 6(1):1-67