What type of dinosaur is Europasaurus?
Q: What type of dinosaur is Europasaurus?
A: Europasaurus is a basal sauropod from the titanosaur clade.
Q: When did Europasaurus live?
A: Europasaurus lived during the Upper Jurassic, about 154 million years ago.
Q: Where was Europasaurus found?
A: Europasaurus was found in northern Germany.
Q: How does its size relate to other sauropods?
A: It is an example of insular dwarfism, meaning it was much smaller than usual for a sauropod. Small sauroopods with an adult body mass less than five tonnes are rare, and small sauropod bones usually come from juveniles. This species was a small adult, based on its bone histology. It was a dwarf species.
Q: What range of sizes were seen among specimens of this species?
A: There are fossils from more than 11 individuals ranging in total body length from 1.7 to 6.2 m due to growth stages, from juveniles to fully grown individuals.
Q: What similar discovery took place at the start of the 20th century?
A: At the start of the 20th century, a local aristocrat named Franz Nopcsa found fossils on his estate in Transylvania that he realised might have lived on an island because he knew that dwarf elephants had lived on islands in the Ice Age; this find was recorded as Magyarosaurus.
