Tambatitanis amicitiae, Saegusa & Ikeda, 2014

Saegusa, Haruo & Ikeda, Tadahiro, 2014, A new titanosauriform sauropod (Dinosauria: Saurischia) from the Lower Cretaceous of Hyogo, Japan, Zootaxa 3848 (1), pp. 1-66 : 9

Tambatitanis amicitiae sp. nov.

Holotype. Museum of Nature and Human Activities, MNHAH D-1029280: a partial skeleton represented by teeth, a braincase, a dentary, an atlas, a fragmentary cervical vertebra, fragmentary dorsal vertebrae, dorsal ribs, first sacral ribs, spine of sacral vertebrae, a pubis, an ilium, caudal vertebrae and chevrons

Type locality. Kamitaki, Sannan-cho, Tamba City, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan

Type horizon and age: ‘Lower’ Formation of the Sasayama Group, Early Cretaceous (probably early Albian).

Etymology. amicitia (Latin), meaning friendship, refers to the friendship between Messrs. Murakami Shigeru and Adachi Kiyoshi who found the holotype skeleton of this new species, in August, 2006.

Diagnosis. Tambatitanis amicitiae gen. et sp. nov. is characterized by 8 unique characters: (1) the postzygapophysis and the summit of the neural spine of the anterior caudal vertebrae are located beyond the posterior border of the centrum; (2) the spine of the anterior caudal vertebrae is curved strongly anteriorly and bowshaped in lateral view; (3) the summit of the neural spine is expanded and hemispherical with its anterior face excavated by the posterodorsal extension of a deep and narrow SPRF; (4) the transverse processes of the anterior caudal vertebrae are short and L shaped; (5) the anterior chevron is longest among sauropods in proportion to body size; (6) the distal ends of the anterior chevrons are rod-shaped; (7) the distal ends of the mid chevrons are transversely thin and long anteroposteriorly, without cranial process; (8) the dorsal border of the shaft of the paroccipital process that forms the ventral margin of the posttemporal fenestra is short mediolaterally and V-shaped in posterior view.