Paleontologists discovered the fossilized remains of a 98-million-year-old titanosaurus in the Neuquén province of northwestern Patagonia in Argentina, in thick sedimentary deposits known as the Candeleros Formation.
The 24 tail vertebrae and elements of the pelvic and chest girdle that have been discovered are believed to belong to a titanosaur, a diverse group of sauropod dinosaurs characterized by their large size, long neck and tail, and four-legged stance.
“It’s a huge dinosaur, but we expect to find a lot more of the skeleton on future excursions, so we’ll have the opportunity to confidently tackle how big it was,” said Alejandro Otero, a paleontologist at the Museo de la in Argentina. Plata, told CNN via email.
Titanosaurus fossils have been found on all continents except Antarctica. But the largest “multi-ton” varieties of the species – including the titanosaurs over 40 tons – have mostly been discovered 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 weight greater than or similar to that of a Patagotitan or Argentinosaurus.
Patago Titans were arguably the world’s largest land animal of all time, weighing up to 77 tons, while Argentinosaurus was similarly gigantic, measuring up to 40 meters (131 feet) and weighing up to 110 tons – more than 12 times more than an African elephant (up to 9 tons).
Experts believe that the specimen strongly suggests that larger titanosaurs co-exist with medium-sized titanosaurs and small rebbachisaurids at the beginning of the late Cretaceous Period, which began 101 million years ago.
“These size differences could indeed explain the existence of such diversity of sauropods in the Neuquén Basin during the Late Cretaceous in terms of niche classification,” they wrote.
Researchers said that while they don’t believe the creature belongs to a new species, they have not been able to assign it to any known lineage of dinosaurs so far.
The research was carried out by Argentina’s The Zapala Museum, Museo de La Plata, Museo Egidio Feruglio and the Universities of Río Negro and Zaragoza.