page_title: Huabeisaurus
section_title: Material
hierarchical_section_title: Huabeisaurus / Discovery and naming / Material
caption_attribution_description: Holotypic sacrum Huabeisaurus allocotus (HBV-20001) from the Upper Cretaceous of Shanxi, China. In (A) right lateral, (B) right dorsolateral, (C) dorsal, and (D) dorsal views. (A–C) depict the sacrum during original preparation; (D) depicts the sacrum in 2012. Abbreviations: cd1–4, caudal vertebrae 1–4; do, dorsal vertebra; ftd, flat-topped diapophysis; pra, preacetabular process; s1–6, sacral vertebral neural spines 1–6. Dashed lines in (A–C) indicate broken bone margins; dashed lines in D indicate general locations of the last dorsal rib and the six sacral ribs.
context_page_description: Huabeisaurus was a genus of dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous. It was a sauropod which lived in what is present-day northern China. The type species, Huabeisaurus allocotus, was first described by Pang Qiqing and Cheng Zhengwu in 2000. Huabeisaurus is known from numerous remains found in the 1990s, which include teeth, partial limbs and vertebrae. Due to its relative completeness, Huabeisaurus represents a significant taxon for understanding sauropod evolution in Asia. Huabeisaurus comes from Kangdailiang and Houyu, Zhaojiagou Town, Tianzhen County, Shanxi province, China. The holotype was found in the unnamed upper member of the Huiquanpu Formation, which is Late Cretaceous in age based on ostracods, charophytes, and fission-track dating.
  Huabeisaurus measures 20 metres long and 5 metres high, as estimated by Pang and Cheng in 2000. It would have been a quadrupedal herbivore with a long neck and tail, like most other sauropods. The skeleton has been presumed to have belonged to an almost mature individual, because it lacks sutures on vertebrae, but not on pelvic material.
context_section_description: Limb and girdle elements from the left and right sides of the body closely match each other in size and are the appropriate size to belong to the same individual as the vertebrae and ribs. The disposition of bones in the quarry is approximately as expected if the animal were lying on its left side in an opisthotonic pose, but nearly all bones show some disorientation and disarticulation: the cervical vertebrae are arranged along a curved line, and extending along this tight curve (approximately) sit two of the dorsal vertebrae followed by the sacrum and caudal vertebrae. The sacrum and first three caudal vertebrae were found in articulation and in line with the remaining articulated caudal vertebrae; others are present after a gap of about 0.5 metres (1.6 ft). Twenty-seven caudal vertebrae are shown on the quarry map, but 30 were found in the collection, and pre-restoration photos indicate that 32 were originally present. Many of the chevrons were found articulated with their respective caudal vertebrae. The left and right scapulae were recovered on the left and right sides of the body, respectively. The left radius was found about midway between the pectoral girdle elements. Left and right femora, pubes, and ilia were located close to one another and all of these were found near the sacrum. The sacrum is depicted with its left side facing upwards on the quarry map, but this might have been an error because the left side of the sacrum is damaged and the left ilium is missing. The elements of the left and right crura were found in close association. Dorsal rib fragments were scattered across the quarry area. In sum, some degree of dispositioning occurred to HBV-20001 before or during burial, resulting in loss and disarticulation of some elements, but the disposition, overall agreement in size, and lack of duplication of bones suggests the presence of a single sauropod individual at this locality.
  Two teeth were preserved. One tooth was discovered in the quarry during excavation and a second was found as field jackets were opened during preparation of the specimen at Shijiazhuang University. The teeth are attributed to the holotype individual based on their close association with other bones and lack of evidence for transport from another site. Both teeth are well preserved, exhibiting wrinkled enamel. The crowns are subcylindrical, with slenderness indices of 3.46 and 3.36, which is slightly more slender than originally described by Pang and Cheng and intermediate in slenderness between broad and narrow-crowned sauropods (e.g., Euhelopus and Phuwiangosaurus). Neither tooth is strongly twisted along its length as in the upper teeth of brachiosaurids.
  A total of four cervical vertebrae were recovered from the holotypic quarry. Two of these are fragmentary, whereas the other two vertebrae are nearly complete. According to the quarry map, the two poorly preserved cervical vertebrae were articulated when found and belong to a more anterior part of the cervical series than the nearly complete vertebrae. Little anatomical information can be gleaned from the two fragmentary cervical vertebrae aside from some measurements.
  Only the capitula, tubercula, and part of the anterior and posterior processes of the cervical ribs are preserved. The ribs are fused to their respective vertebrae. The cervical ribs are pendant, extending ventrally for a distance subequal to the height of the centrum, as in several other East Asian Cretaceous sauropods. In both cervical vertebrae, the tuberculum is notably slender anteroposteriorly, especially in comparison with the capitulum. The cervical ribs are currently broken, but the original description notes that at least some originally exceeded centrum length.
  Parts of six dorsal vertebrae are preserved: one partial anterior dorsal vertebral neural arch, one partial dorsal vertebral centrum, three posterior dorsal vertebrae that are nearly complete but currently heavily reconstructed with plaster, and one that has been plastered into the sacrum. None of the dorsal vertebrae have observable neurocentr
caption: Sacrum
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