Mamenchisaurus

Translingual

Etymology

From Mandarin 馬門溪／马门溪 (Mǎménqī, literally “horse-gate brook”), Wade–Giles romanization: Ma³-mên²-chʻi¹ + -saurus. It was intended to name the reptile after the place where its fossil was first found — a construction site next to Mamingxi (馬鳴溪／马鸣溪 (Mǎmíngxī, literally “horse-neighing brook”)) Ferry Crossing by the Jinsha River (the westernmost major headwater stream of the Yangtze River), near Yibin in Sichuan Province of China. However, due to a mix-up by Young, the location name Mamingxi was mistaken as Mamenxi.

Proper noun

Mamenchisaurus m

1. A taxonomic genus within the family Mamenchisauridae – a large herbivorous sauropod dinosaur, with an exceptionally long neck, which lived during the Jurassic period.
   • 2011 May 30, “Big dinosaur exhibit at natural history museum”, in The Washington Post‎^[1], →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 29 November 2023, Style‎^[2]:

     The biggest star of the exhibit is a detailed model of a 60-foot-long Mamenchisaurus (pronounced mah-MUN-key-sore-us). “It’s a very long-necked animal from China,” said Mark Norell of the museum’s paleontology department. Its neck was 30 feet long!

   • 2014 April 26, “Gobi desert reveals modest ancestor of gigantic flying reptiles”, in South China Morning Post‎^[3], →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 26 April 2014, World‎^[4]:

     Another important element of the discovery is the environment where Kryptodrakon lived. This was a river-dominated ecosystem far from the ocean in a region teeming with life, including a fearsome dinosaur predator called Sinraptor and a gigantic plant-eating dinosaur named Mamenchisaurus that boasted one of the longest necks of any creature yet to walk the planet.

   • 2023 March 15, Jack Tamisiea, “It’s Not a Stretch: This Dinosaur Had a 50-Foot Neck”, in The New York Times‎^[5], →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 15 March 2023, Science‎^[6]:

     To determine how Mamenchisaurus managed a neck as long as a semi-truck trailer, Dr. Moore and colleagues used a CT scanner to analyze the animal’s vertebrae. Instead of being stuffed with heavy marrow and tissue while the dinosaur was living, the interior of the sauropod’s vertebrae were filled with large air pockets similar to those found in modern birds like storks and swans. These empty pockets accounted for up to 77 percent of each bone’s volume, vastly decreasing the weight of Mamenchisaurus’s spine.

   • 2023 March 17, Will Sullivan, “This Dinosaur Had a 50-Foot-Long Neck, Scientists Say”, in Smithsonian Magazine‎^[7], archived from the original on 20 March 2023‎^[8]:

     The dinosaurs evolved a few ways to manage their unwieldy necks. Researchers used CT scans to find that most of the vertebrae’s volume—about 69 to 77 percent—was air, similar to the vertebrae of some birds. Such air-filled bones would be lighter, making it easier for the Mamenchisaurus to hold up its giant neck, per the statement.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:Mamenchisaurus.

Hypernyms

• (genus): Reptilia - class; Saurischia - order; †Sauropodomorpha, †Sauropoda - clades

References

• Mamenchisaurus on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Mamenchisaurus on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• Mamenchisaurus on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons