Paleontologists have discovered the petrified remains of a 98-million-year-old titanosaurus in the province of Neuquén in northwestern Patagonia, Argentina, in thick, sedimentary deposits, known as the Candeleros Formation.
The 24 vertebrae of the tail and the elements of the pelvic and thoracic girdle discovered are thought to belong to a titanosaurus, a diverse group of sauropod dinosaurs characterized by their large size, long neck and tail and four-legged attitude.
“It’s a huge dinosaur, but we expect to find much more of the skeleton in future field trips, so we’ll have the opportunity to confidently address how big it really was,” said Alejandro Otero, a paleontologist. at the Argentine Museo de La. Plata, told CNN in an email.
Titanosaurus fossils have been found on all continents except Antarctica. But the largest “multi-ton” varieties of the species – including the titanosaurs of more than 40 tons – were mostly discovered in Patagonia.
Without analyzing the dinosaur’s humerus or femur, experts say it is not yet possible to say how much the creature weighs. The partially recovered dinosaur “, however, can be considered one of the largest titanosaurs,” experts said, with a probable body mass greater or comparable to that of a Patagotitan or Argentinosaurus.
Patagotitans were possibly the largest land animal of the world of all time and weighed up to 77 tons, while Argentinosaurus was similarly gigantic and measured up to 40 meters (131 feet) and weighed up to 110 tons – weighed more than 12 times more. as an African elephant (up to 9 tons).
Experts believe that the sample strongly suggests that larger titanosaurs along with medium-sized titanosaurs and small rebbachisaurides together strongly suggest the beginning of the Cretaceous, which began 101 million years ago.
“These size differences may indeed explain the existence of such a sauropod diversity in the Neuquén basin during the Late Cretaceous in terms of niche distribution,” they wrote.
Researchers have said that although they do not believe the creature belongs to a new species, they have not yet been able to assign it to a known species of dinosaur.
The research was done by Argentina’s The Zapala Museum, Museo de La Plata, Museo Egidio Feruglio and the universities of Río Negro and Zaragoza.