The gargantuan era of dinosaurs, when mammoth creatures roamed the wilds of the primeval Earth, was a time populated by numerous behemoth beasts but little larger than animals called titanosaurs.
These ginormous monsters of the Cretaceous period belonged to a diverse and dominant group of sauropod dinosaurs that are defined by XXL size, long neck and tail, and four-legged body structure.
Now, a team of South American paleontologists have unearthed the fossilized remains of a huge 98-million-year-old titanosaurus in the province of Neuquén, northwestern Argentine Patagonia, and could be the largest terrestrial dinosaur specimen. great never discovered.
Led by researchers from the Zapala Museum, the La Plata Museum, the Egidio Feruglio Museum and the universities of Río Negro and Zaragoza, the fossilized remains were extracted from the dense sedimentary deposits of the site known as the Candeleros Formation.
As described in a new study published in the online journal Cretaceous Research, it is believed that the 24 fossil vertebrae of the tail and parts of the pelvic and pectoral girdle belong to a new titanosaur whose enormous size could eclipse that of megaparents previously discovered as Patagotite.
That terrestrial giant, first cataloged in 2008 and found in the desert near La Flecha, lived between 100 and 95 million years ago and measured up to a colossal 122 feet long.
Another huge titanosaur, unearthed in southwestern Argentina in 1987 and officially titled Argentinosaurus, grew to 131 feet long and tipped the scales to more than 110 tons, roughly the weight of an average adult blue whale. . This latest Patagonian specimen could surpass the body mass statistics of the previous world record holder.
“It is a huge dinosaur, but we hope to find much more skeleton in future field trips, so we will have the opportunity to confidently address how great it was,” said the co-author of the study, Alejandro Otero, of the Museo de l ‘Argentina. La Plata told CNN.
The remains of Titanosaurs are not relegated to modern South America and bones have been excavated around the world on every continent except Antarctica. By far, the largest treasure of the largest beasts, those weighing more than 40 tons, have been stumbled upon in the Patagonian region.
“In addition to the total size, the bones are articulated,” team member José Luis Carballido wrote in the museum’s official announcement on Facebook. “Something we haven’t seen in dinosaurs of this size so far. At the moment, we find the articulated vertebrae of the tail and hip bones. Phylogenetic analysis shows us that it is a basal form of the Patagonian genealogical line and is known as Lognkosauria, a group of South American titanosaurs. “
In order to determine a more accurate estimate of the maximum size of this titanosaurus, scientists will continue to delve into its evolutionary mysteries, but preliminary data reveal that it is likely to be larger than Patagotitan majorum and will likely eclipse its record as the creature. largest terrestrial that has ever walked. the earth.
“The studied bones of this new sauropod are larger than those of Patagotitan, however, due to lack of femur and humerus, we cannot calculate body mass,” Carballido points out in the same official message. “Therefore, any comparison we make is not conclusive.”