Eromangasaurus is an extinct genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of elasmosaurid known from northern Queensland

Queensland

Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

 of Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

.

Description

Eromangasaurus is known from the holotype

Holotype

A holotype is a single physical example of an organism, known to have been used when the species was formally described. It is either the single such physical example or one of several such, but explicitly designated as the holotype...

 QM

Queensland Museum

The Queensland Museum is the state museum of Queensland. The museum currently operates four separate campuses; at South Brisbane, Ipswich, Toowoomba and Townsville.The museum is funded by the State Government of Queensland.-History:...

 F11050, a nearly complete but badly crushed skull

Skull

The skull is a bony structure in the head of many animals that supports the structures of the face and forms a cavity for the brain.The skull is composed of two parts: the cranium and the mandible. A skull without a mandible is only a cranium. Animals that have skulls are called craniates...

 and mandible

Mandible

The mandible pronunciation or inferior maxillary bone forms the lower jaw and holds the lower teeth in place...

. It was collected in Maxwelton

Maxwelton

Maxwelton, currently a private residence, is a single story Victorian Piano Box House located on Southern Avenue near Buntyn's Station along what was the Memphis and Charleston Railroad....

, from the Toolebuc Formation

Toolebuc Formation

The Toolebuc Formation is a geological formation in Queensland, Australia whose strata date back to the Early Cretaceous. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation.-Vertebrate paleofauna:...

 of the Eromanga Basin

Eromanga Basin

The Eromanga Basin is a large Mesozoic sedimentary basin in central and northern Australia. It covers parts of Queensland, the Northern Territory, South Australia, and New South Wales, and is a major component of the Great Artesian Basin...

, dating to the late Albian

Albian

The Albian is both an age of the geologic timescale and a stage in the stratigraphic column. It is the youngest or uppermost subdivision of the Early/Lower Cretaceous epoch/series. Its approximate time range is 112.0 ± 1.0 Ma to 99.6 ± 0.9 Ma...

 stage of the Early Cretaceous

Early Cretaceous

The Early Cretaceous or the Lower Cretaceous , is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous...

, about 103 million years ago. Sven Sachs mentioned some referred material from the same locality as the holotype, QM F12216-19, an anterior cervical vertebra and QM F12217&2, associated posterior cervical vertebrae.

Etymology

Eromangasaurus was first named by Benjamin P. Kear in 2005

2005 in paleontology

-New taxa:-New taxa:-Xiphosurans:* Fossils of Lunataspis, the earliest known xiphosuran, are discovered in Canada. It was not given a formal description until 2008, however.-New taxa:-Newly named dinosaurs:...

 and the type species

Type species

In biological nomenclature, a type species is both a concept and a practical system which is used in the classification and nomenclature of animals and plants. The value of a "type species" lies in the fact that it makes clear what is meant by a particular genus name. A type species is the species...

 is Eromangasaurus australis. Benjamin P. Kear originally named QM F11050 as Eromangasaurus carinognathus. However, earlier in 2005, Sven Sachs named a second species of Tuarangisaurus

Tuarangisaurus

Tuarangisaurus is an extinct genus of elasmosaurid known from New Zealand. Tuarangisaurus is known from the holotype NZGS CD425, a nearly complete skull and mandible and from NZGS CD426, nine anterior-most cervical vertebrae...

, Tuarangisaurus australis, on the basis of the same specimen and some referred material. This nominal has priority over E. carinognathus, and therefore the latter is a junior synonym of T. australis. Later studies of the holotype by Kear pointed out that this species is distinct enough from the type species of Tuarangisaurus to be placed in its own genus. Eromangasaurus was the only available name for the new combination Eromangasaurus australis. E. australis is widely accepted today as the correct name for QM F11050. The generic name is derived from Eromanga in reference to the Eromanga Basin in which the holotype was found, and saurus, Greek

Greek language

Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...

 for "lizard". The specific name is named after Australia, in which the holotype was found.