Dinosaur fossils could belong to the world’s largest creature

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Paleontologists have discovered the fossilized remains of a 98-million-year-old titanosaur in the province of Neuquén, northwest Argentina’s Patagonia, in thick sedimentary deposits known as the Candeleros Formation.

The 24 tail vertebrae and pelvic and pectoral girdle elements discovered 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 stance.

In research published in the journal Cretaceous Research, experts say they believe the creature is “one of the largest sauropods ever found” and may exceed the size of a Patagotitan, a species that lived 100 years ago. millions to 95 million years old and measured up to a staggering 37.2 meters (122 feet).

“He’s a huge dinosaur, but we expect to find a lot more skeleton on future field trips, so we’ll have the opportunity to confidently determine how big he really was,” Alejandro Otero, paleontologist at the Museo de La of Argentina Plata, told CNN via email.

Titanosaur fossils have been found on every continent except Antarctica. But the larger “multi-ton” varieties of the species – including titanosaurs exceeding 40 tons – were mostly found in Patagonia.

Without analyzing the dinosaur’s humerus or femur, experts say it’s 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 likely body mass greater than or comparable to that of a Patagotitan or Argentinosaurus.

The newly discovered dinosaur is believed to have a body mass greater than or comparable to that of an Argentinosaurus, which measured up to 40 meters and weighed up to 110 tons.

The Patagotitans were perhaps the largest land animal in the world of all time and weighed up to 77 tons, while the Argentinosaurus was equally gargantuan and measured up to 40 meters (131 feet) and weighed up to 110 tons – weighing more than 12 times more. than an African elephant (up to 9 tonnes).

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Experts believe the specimen strongly suggests the coexistence of larger titanosaurs with medium-sized titanosaurs and small-sized rebbachisaurids during the early Late Cretaceous period, which began 101 million years ago.

“These differences in size could indeed explain the existence of such a diversity of sauropods in the Neuquén basin in the Upper Cretaceous in terms of partitioning of the niches,” they wrote.

The researchers said that while they don’t believe the creature is a new species, they have so far been unable to assign it to a known genus of dinosaur.

The research was carried out by the Argentinian Zapala Museum, the La Plata Museum, the Egidio Feruglio Museum and the Universities of Río Negro and Zaragoza.

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