Paleontologists discovered the fossilized remains of a 98 million-year-old titanosaur in the province of Neuquén, northwestern Argentine Patagonia, in thick sedimentary deposits known as the Candeleros Formation.
The 24 vertebrae of the tail and the elements of the pelvic and pectoral girdle are believed to belong to a titanosaurus, a diverse group of sauropod dinosaurs, characterized by their large size, long neck and tail, and four-legged posture.
“It’s a huge dinosaur, but we hope to find a lot more skeleton in future outings, so we’ll be able to confidently tackle how big it was,” Alejandro Otero, a paleontologist at the Museo de la Plata Plata, told CNN by email.
Titanosaur fossils have been found on all continents except Antarctica. But the largest “several-ton” varieties of the species, including titanosaurs in excess of 40 tons, have been discovered mostly in Patagonia.
Without analyzing the humerus or femur of the dinosaur, experts say it is not yet possible to say how much the creature weighs. However, the partially recovered dinosaur “can be considered one of the largest titanosaurs,” experts said, with a body mass likely higher or comparable to that of a Patagonian or Argentinosaur.
The Patagotitans could have been the largest land animal in the world of all time, weighing up to 77 tons, while Argentinosaurs were equally gargantuan, measuring up to 40 meters and weighing up to 110 tons, weighing more than 12 times. more than an African elephant (up to 9 tons).
Experts believe the specimen strongly suggests the coexistence of larger titanosaurs along with medium-sized titanosaurs and small-sized rebbachisaurids in the early to late Cretaceous period, which began 101 million years ago.
“These differences in size could explain the existence of this diversity of sauropods in the Neuquén Basin during the Late Cretaceous in terms of niche partitioning,” they wrote.
The researchers said that while they do not believe the creature belongs to a new species, so far they have not been able to assign it to a known genus of dinosaur.
The research was conducted by Argentina ‘s The Zapala Museum, Museu de la Plata, Museu Egidi Feruglio and the universities of Riu Negre and Saragossa.