Australodocus bohetii Remes, 2007

Australodocus bohetii Remes, 2007

The Tendaguru finds continue to be studied, and they have served as the basis for new species descriptions even quite recently. Australodocus bohetii was introduced in 2007 by paleontologist Kristian Remes. The genus name Australodocus is derived from the Latin australis meaning “south” and the Greek δοΚός / dokós meaning “beam”; “south” alludes to the origin of the fossils in the southern supercontinent of Gondwana, while “beam” refers to the fact that the genus is a member of the family of diplodocids or “double beams,” so named because of the chevron (V-shaped) bones located in the underside of the tail. The best-known member of the genus is the famous Diplodocus carnegii from North America. 104

Remes’s decision to honor an African preparator in the specific name was unprecedented in taxonomic history and happened almost one hundred years after the specimen was first excavated. Boheti bin Amrani ( Fig. 14.9 View Fig ) lived on the outskirts of Lindi and was the most prominent African participant in the German dig at Tendaguru. Employed for many years as an overseer and chief preparator, his work contributed greatly to the success of the expedition. 105 He was also involved in the subsequent British expedition to Tendaguru from 1924 to 1931, and thus worked longer on the Tendaguru excavations than anyone else.