South American paleontologists unearth huge remains of gigantic titanosaurus

The gargantuan era of the dinosaurs, when mammoth creatures roamed the wilds of early Earth, was a time of many giant beasts but little larger than the animals nicknamed titanosaurs.

These giant monsters from the Cretaceous Period belonged to a diverse and dominant group of sauropod dinosaurs, all defined by their 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 massive 98 million year old titanosaur in the province of Neuquén, in northwest Argentinian Patagonia, and it may well be. act of the largest terrestrial dinosaur specimen ever discovered.

Led by researchers from the Zapala Museum, La Plata Museum, Egidio Feruglio Museum, and the Universities of Río Negro and Zaragoza, the fossilized remains were extracted from the dense sedimentary deposits at the site known as the Candeleros Formation.

As described in a new study published in the online journal Cretaceous Research, the 24 vertebrae in the fossil’s tail and parts of the pelvic and pectoral girdle excavated are believed to belong to a new titanosaurus whose enormous size could eclipse that of previously discovered mega parents. like Patagotitan.

This terrestrial giant, first cataloged in 2008 and found in the desert near La Flecha, lived 100 to 95 million years ago and was up to 122 feet long.

Another huge titanosaur, unearthed in southwest Argentina in 1987 and officially titled Argentinosaurus, grew to 131 feet long and tipped the scales at over 110 tons, about the weight of a medium adult blue whale. This latest Patagonian specimen could potentially beat the body mass statistics of this previous world record holder.

“He’s a huge dinosaur, but we expect to find a lot more skeleton on future field trips, so we’ll have the chance to confidently determine how big he really was,” the co-author said. of the study Alejandro Otero of the Museo de Argentina. La Plata told CNN.

Titanosaur remains are not relegated to modern South America, and bones have been unearthed all over the world on every continent except Antarctica. By far the greatest treasure of the largest of the beasts, those weighing over 40 tons, has been discovered in the Patagonia region.

“In addition to the total size, the bones are articulated,” wrote team member José Luis Carballido in the museum’s official Facebook announcement. “Something we haven’t seen in dinosaurs of this size until now. For now, we find the articulated vertebrae of the tail and hip bones. Phylogenetic analysis shows us that it This is a basal form of the Patagotitan lineage and is known as Lognkosauria, a group of South American titanosaurs. “

In order to determine a more precise estimate of the ultimate size of this titanosaur, scientists will continue to delve into its evolutionary mysteries, but preliminary data reveals that it is likely larger than Patagotitan majorum and will likely eclipse its record as the largest land creature. to have ever walked. Earth.

“The studied bones of this new sauropod are larger than those of the Patagotitan, however, due to the lack of femur and humerus, we cannot calculate body mass,” Carballido notes in the same official article. “So any comparison we make is inconclusive.”