Sauropod dinosaur genus from the late Jurassic Period in Lindi Region, Tanzania
Giraffatitan
Temporal range: Late Jurassic (Tithonian), 150–145 Ma
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Mounted skeleton, Berlin's Natural History Museum
Scientific classification
Domain:
Eukaryota
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Clade:
Dinosauria
Clade:
Saurischia
Clade:
†Sauropodomorpha
Clade:
†Sauropoda
Clade:
†Macronaria
Family:
†Brachiosauridae
Genus:
†Giraffatitan Paul, 1988
Type species
†Giraffatitan brancai
(Janensch, 1914[1])
Synonyms
Genus synonymy[2]
"Abdallahsaurus" (nomen nudum)
"Blancocerosaurus" (nomen nudum)
"Ligomasaurus" (nomen nudum)
"Mtapaisaurus" (nomen nudum)
"Salimosaurus" (nomen nudum)
"Wangonisaurus" (nomen nudum)
Species synonymy
Brachiosaurus brancai Janensch, 1914
Brachiosaurus fraasi Janensch, 1914[1]
Giraffatitan (name meaning "titanic giraffe") is a genus of sauropod dinosaur that lived during the late Jurassic Period (Kimmeridgian–Tithonian stages) in what is now Lindi Region, Tanzania. Only one species is known, G. brancai, named in honor of German paleontologist Wilhelm von Branca, who was a driving force behind the expedition that discovered it in the Tendaguru Formation. Giraffatitan brancai was originally described by German paleontologist Werner Janensch as a species of the North American sauropod Brachiosaurus from the Morrison Formation, as Brachiosaurus brancai. Recent research shows that the differences between the type species of Brachiosaurus and the Tendaguru material are so large that the African material should be placed in a separate genus.
Giraffatitan was for many decades known as the largest dinosaur but recent discoveries of several larger dinosaurs prove otherwise; giant titanosaurians appear to have surpassed Giraffatitan in terms of sheer mass. Also, the sauropod dinosaur Sauroposeidon is estimated to be taller and possibly heavier than Giraffatitan. Most size estimates for Giraffatitan are based on the specimen HMN SII, a subadult individual, but there is evidence supporting that these animals could grow larger; specimen HMN XV2, represented by a fibula 13% larger than the corresponding material on HMN SII, would have measured around 23–26 metres (75–85 ft) long and weighed about 40–48 metric tons (44–53 short tons).
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Giraffatitan (name meaning "titanic giraffe") is a genus of sauropod dinosaur that lived during the late Jurassic Period (Kimmeridgian–Tithonian stages)...
Brachiosaurus are in fact based on Giraffatitan, a genus of brachiosaurid dinosaur from the Tendaguru Formation of Tanzania. Giraffatitan was originally described...
as a scaled-up Giraffatitan. By comparison, Giraffatitan might have weighed 36–40 t (40–44 short tons). This estimate of the Giraffatitan is an average...
all Dicraeosaurus, a large herbivorous sauropod dinosaur from Africa Giraffatitan, another large sauropod from Africa (usually recognized as a species...
of the pelvis are unsplit. Comparisons with Brachiosaurus (now named Giraffatitan) were also mentioned, and it was identified that Europasaurus has a shorter...
posteriorly twisted crowns, which are characteristic of the brachiosaurids Giraffatitan and Abydosaurus. In addition, a brachiosaurid named Padillasaurus leivaensis...
record-breaking individual, a little larger than the "Brachiosaurus" brancai (Giraffatitan brancai) mount in the Berlin's Natural History Museum. Originally, these...
Region of Tanzania. Veterupristisaurus, Ostafrikasaurus, Elaphrosaurus, Giraffatitan, Dicraeosaurus, Janenschia, Tornieria, Tendaguria, Kentrosaurus, and...
Berlin Hauptbahnhof. It has the largest mounted dinosaur in the world (a Giraffatitan skeleton). A well-preserved specimen of Tyrannosaurus rex and the early...
guesswork. The tallest and heaviest dinosaur known from good skeletons is Giraffatitan brancai (previously classified as a species of Brachiosaurus). Its remains...
Tanzania, which dates to the Late Jurassic. The rocks also yield fossils of Giraffatitan and Kentrosaurus. As there was a distinct difference in size between...
sauropod dinosaurs. Although Abydosaurus lived some 50 million years after Giraffatitan, the skulls of these two genera are similar except for the narrower,...
counterparts, e.g., Brachiosaurus and Stegosaurus in the Morrison, and Giraffatitan and Kentrosaurus in the Tendaguru. The Tendaguru Formation represents...
PhyloCode as the largest clade containing Saltasaurus loricatus, but not Giraffatitan brancai. Features found as diagnostic of this clade by Mannion et al...
theropods Elaphrosaurus and Veterupristisaurus, giant herbivorous sauropods Giraffatitan and Tornieria, and the dryosaurid Dysalotosaurus. Kentrosaurus generally...
sauropod known from a complete skeleton is a specimen of an immature Giraffatitan discovered in Tanzania between 1907 and 1912, now mounted in the Museum...
front-to-back as it was tall, an uncommon characteristic shared with Giraffatitan, Ruyangosaurus, and Tapuiasaurus. Like other titanosauriforms, the sternal...
"Caudal Pneumaticity and Pneumatic Hiatuses in the Sauropod Dinosaurs Giraffatitan and Apatosaurus". PLOS ONE. 8 (10): e78213. Bibcode:2013PLoSO...878213W...
One of the tallest and heaviest dinosaurs known from good skeletons is Giraffatitan brancai (previously classified as a species of Brachiosaurus). Its remains...
camarasaurid Camarasaurus, and the brachiosaurids Brachiosaurus and Giraffatitan. Through the Early to Late Cretaceous, the giants Borealosaurus, Sauroposeidon...
reach 17.5 m (57 ft) in height but this animal is known only from teeth. Giraffatitan was estimated at 16 m (52 ft) in height. Other huge sauropods include...
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