Ohmdenosaurus

rdf:langString Ohmdenosaurus

rdf:langString Wild, 1978

rdf:langString Toarcian,

rdf:langString Ohmdenosaurus

rdf:langString The only specimen in posterior view, on exhibit at the Urweltmuseum Hauff, Germany

rdf:langString liasicus

rdf:langString Ohmdenosaurus ("Ohmden lizard") is a genus of sauropod dinosaur that lived during the Early Jurassic epoch in what is now Germany. The only specimen – a tibia (shinbone) and ankle – was discovered in rocks of the Posidonia Shale near Holzmaden. The fossil was originally identified as a plesiosaur. Exhibited in a local museum, the Urweltmuseum Hauff, it caught the attention of German paleontologist Rupert Wild, who recognized it as the remains of a sauropod. Wild named Ohmdenosaurus in a 1978 publication, the only species is Ohmdenosaurus liasicus. One of the earliest known sauropods, it was quadrupedal (four-legged) and already had the columnar limbs typical for the group. Ohmdenosaurus was small for a sauropod, with an estimated length of 3–4 m (9.8–13.1 ft). Its relationships to other sauropods remain poorly known due to the incompleteness of its remains, though it might have been close to the Australian genus Rhoetosaurus. The Posidonia Shale was deposited within a shallow inland sea and contained abundant and well-preserved fossils of marine reptiles including ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs. Ohmdenosaurus was a terrestrial animal, and its carcass must have been transported by predators or water currents by at least 100 km (62 mi) from the shoreline to its site of burial. It is the only dinosaur fossil known from the shale.