Astrophocaudia


Astrophocaudia is a genus of somphospondylan sauropod known from the late Early Cretaceous of Texas, United States. Its remains were discovered in the Trinity Group. The type species is Astrophocaudia slaughteri, described in 2012 by Michael D. D’Emic while a doctoral student at the Museum of Paleontology of the University of Michigan, USA.

Discovery and naming

In 1969, Maria A. Marques-Bilelo reported the holotype from the Trinity Group. In 1974, Wann Langston Jr. referred the fossil to Pleurocoelus as a Pleurocoelus sp. In 2012, Michael D'Emic renamed Pleurocoelus sp. as Astrophocaudia slaughteri in his redescription of the Trinity Group sauropods.
The holotype is a partial skeleton including a tooth, two neck vertebrae, fragments of back vertebrae, 24 tail vertebrae, approximately 20 fragmentary ribs, two chevrons, and a piece of shoulder blade.