Europasaurus

Type Species: Europasaurus holgeri

Classification: Dinosauria – Saurischia – Sauropoda - Gravisauria - Eusauropoda - Neosauropoda – Macronaria – Titanosauriformes – Brachiosauridae

Time Period: Late Jurassic 

Location: Europe (Germany)

Diet: Herbivore   

Europasaurus was a tiny sauropod that, in adulthood, reached only twenty feet in length, stood as tall as an eight-year-old human at the hips, and whose head reached only ten feet above the ground. Its small size has been attributed to ‘insular dwarfism,’ in which animals evolve to shrink in size in order to cope with diminished resources. Germany at this point in the Late Jurassic was mostly underwater; higher elevations emerged from the sea in a string of island archipelagos, the largest of which was only 120,000 square miles. Even an island that large likely couldn’t support a herd of normal-sized sauropods; hence Europasaurus grew smaller in order to survive. Bone analysis shows that while gigantic sauropods reached their massive size by growing quickly, Europasaurus had an unusually slow rate of growth. Other instances of ‘insular dwarfism’ have been documented from Europe around this time; in Romania, for example, we’ve discovered a dwarf titanosaur Magyarosaurus and a dwarf hadrosaur Telmatosaurus. 

Europasaurus’ remains were found in a richly marine environment that faced a large German island coated with conifers, ferns, and cycads. Pterosaurs flew about among the trees, hopping island-to-island, and early mammals scurried in the underbrush. Fossilized turtles, fish, hybodont sharks, and marine crocodylomorphs are common. At least 450 bones from Europasaurus were recovered from the Langenberg Quarry, and about a third of them had tooth marks. These tooth marks match the teeth of fish, sharks, and marine crocodylomorphs, but none were made by theropods. Scientists believe that a herd of Europasaurus were crossing a tidal zone and drowned. Other dinosaur material in the vicinity includes remains from an unknown diplodocid, a stegosaur, and multiple indeterminate theropods. Isolated teeth show that there were at least four different types of theropods living on the island, including the megalosaur Torvosaurus as well as an indeterminate megalosaur, an allosaur, and a ceratosaur. Interesting, teeth that seem to belong to Velociraptorinae, which would put the genesis of this dromaeosaur subgroup in the Late Jurassic rather than the (proposed) Early Cretaceous. 

this graphic highlights European bone-beds with their Late Jurassic counterparts
The Langenberg Quarry is #7

Dinosaur footprints preserved at the quarry have led researchers to propose a reason for Europasaurus’ eventual demise. Footprints located sixteen feet above the Europasaurus burial ground shows that 35,000 years after their burial (well into the Cretaceous), sea level dropped and allowed for what’s called a ‘faunal overrun.’ The theropods that coexisted with Europasaurus were, by and large, about thirteen feet in length; but the theropods that were able to cross to the former island via a land bridge revealed by sinking sea levels were around twenty-five feet in length (based upon their footprints). These larger theropods made windfall on the previously-isolated island: the creatures who had grown small to survive amid diminished resources were now easy pickings for large Cretaceous predators. Europasaurus wouldn’t have stood a chance in the bloodletting.