Discovered in Argentina in 2014, the 20-meter-tall lizard roamed what is now Patagonia about 140 million years ago.
A colossal dinosaur unearthed in Argentina could be the oldest titanosaurus ever found, after roaming what is now Patagonia about 140 million years ago at the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, scientists said on Sunday.
The 20-meter-high lizard, Ninjatitan zapatai, was discovered in 2014 in the Neuquen province of southwest Argentina, the University of La Matanza reported in its analysis.
“The main importance of this fossil, other than being a new species of Titanosaurus, is that it is the oldest recorded for this group worldwide,” said Conicet Scientific Council researcher Pablo Gallina.
Titanosaurs were members of the sauropod group – giant herbivorous lizards with long necks and tails that were arguably the largest animals to ever walk the Earth.
The new discovery, the statement said, meant that titanosaurs lived longer than previously thought – at the beginning of the Cretaceous, which ended with the demise of the dinosaurs some 66 million years ago.
Fossils from 140 million years ago are “really very scarce,” said Gallina, lead author of a study published in Argentina’s scientific journal Ameghiniana.
The creature is named after Argentinian paleontologist Sebastian Apesteguia, nicknamed “El Ninja”, and engineer Rogelio Zapata.