Australodocus

southern beam (or "southern bearer")

• austral(o)- · Latin · southern
• dokos · Greek · beam, bearer

The name combines the Latin word for "southern" with the Greek word for "beam" or "bearer". It refers to the fact that it was the first diplodocoid-like sauropod reported from the Southern Hemisphere (Africa). "-docus" is borrowed from Diplodocus. The species name, A. bohetii, honours Boheti bin Amrani, the chief assistant on the early 20th-century Tendaguru expeditions.

Named by

Remes

Year named

2007

Period

Late Jurassic

Stage

Kimmeridgian

Found in

Tendaguru Formation, Lindi Region, Tanzania

A sauropod known from very fragmentary remains, mainly a couple of neck vertebrae. It was originally described as a diplodocoid, though some researchers have questioned this and consider the material too incomplete to diagnose, so its validity and relationships are debated. Stage details are given with moderate certainty.