“Australotitan”: they claim that the remains of the largest dinosaur found in Australia are of a new species

With more than 25 meters long and 5 meters high, a scientific study identified a new species of sauropod, which populated the Earth over 92 million years ago, as the largest dinosaur discovered in Australia.

“The new titanosaur is Australia’s largest dinosaur represented by osteological remains and, based on limb size comparisons, has grown to a size similar to the giant titanosaurs of South America,” according to the study published Monday in the scientific journal Peer J.

This specimen, which was Called Australotitan or “the titan of the south”, he lived in the northeastern state of Queensland in prehistoric times when the territory of mainland Australia was attached to Antarctica.

According to this study by Queensland Museum curator Scott Hocknull, The first remains of this dinosaur, also known as “Cooper” because of the creek adjacent to the archaeological site where it was found, were excavated in 2006 and 2007 in the Winton Formation, an area located in the Basin of Eromanga, rich in hydrocarbons and meadows.

Hocknull and paleontologist Róchelle Lawrence, one of the authors of this study, explained in another article published in the journal The Conversation, that After recovering thousands of kilograms of bones, these were compared with 3D digital technology to those of other sauropod species in Australia and other parts of the world to confirm that it was a new species.

“The 3D scans we created allowed me to carry thousands of kilograms of dinosaur bones on a 7 kg laptop. Better yet, we can now share this analysis and information online with the world, ”said Hocknull.

Scientists also observed that the four sauropods discovered so far that populated Australia over 92 million years ago, including Australites, were closest to dinosaurs elsewhere in the world.

“However, we were unable to conclusively place any of these four related species in the same place at the same time. This means that they may have evolved over time to occupy very different habitats. It is even possible that they may have evolved over time. ‘they have never been found,’ the two scientists noted.

“We found Australotitan to be the largest of the family, followed by Wintonotitan with large hips and long legs, while the two smaller sauropods, Diamantinasaurus and Savannasaurus, were smaller and heavily built.”

Hocknull said that in addition to describing Australotitan, the study also revealed a number of new findings in the region that await full scientific study.

Over the past 17 years, numerous dinosaur skeletons have been found, including one with an almost complete tail. The discovery of a rock platform, nearly 100 meters long, represents a sauropod path, where dinosaurs walked, trampling mud and bones in the loose soil, ”Hocknull said.

They also pointed out that the Australian species are related to the titanosaurs of South America and Asia, suggesting that they dispersed from South America (via Antarctica) during periods of global heat or that they were able to move through the former island archipelagos of the South-East. Asian.

(with information from the EFE)

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