A new genus and species of giant colossosaurian titanosaur has been identified from fossils found in Patagonia, Argentina.
The newly-identified species lived in what is now Argentina during the Late Cretaceous epoch, between 95 and 93 million years ago.
Named Chucarosaurus diripienda, it was a large sauropod with relatively slender fore and hindlimbs.
It belongs to Colossosauria, a group of titanosaurian sauropods from the Early Cretaceous through the Late Cretaceous of South America.
“Titanosaurs were the most diverse and abundant terrestrial herbivores in the Southern Hemisphere landmasses during the Late Cretaceous,” said Dr. Federico Agnolin, a paleontologist with the Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales ‘Bernardino Rivadavia’ – CONICET and the Fundación de Historia Natural ‘Félix de Azara’ at the Universidad Maimónides, and his colleagues.
“They were globally widespread, and more than 60 valid species are known from South America.”
“Titanosaurs are restricted to the Cretaceous and are the most common dinosaurs found in Upper Cretaceous layers of South America, particularly in Patagonia.”
“A special paleobiogeographic aspect is their high diversity during the latest Cretaceous that rivals that of the hadrosaurid and ceratopsid ornithischians of northern hemisphere ecosystems at the same time.”
“Some titanosaurs are regarded as the most massive terrestrial animals known with weights reaching 70 tons and a size of about 37 m long.”
“Colossosauria comprises most of the truly giant titanosaurs like Argentinosaurus, Notocolossus, Patagotitan and Puertasaurus,” they added.
The specimen of Chucarosaurus diripienda were discovered in the Late Cretaceous layers of the Huincul Formation in the Neuquén Basin, Rio Negro province, northeastern Patagonia.
“It includes appendicular and relatively slender elements, with a femoral total length of about 1.9 m long,” the paleontologists said.
“In spite of being a well-sampled…
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