Fossils of oldest member of huge dinosaur group found in Argentina
The researchers said Ninjatitan demonstrated that the titanosaurs as a group first appeared longer ago than previously known.
By Reuters, March 2, 2021
Palaeontologists pose for a picture next to an
excavation of dinosaur bones and fossils that may have belonged to the
largest dinosaur ever discovered, in Neuquen, Argentina November 12,
2016.
(photo credit: REUTERS)
BUENOS AIRES - Scientists have unearthed in Argentina's Patagonian wilderness fossils of what may be the oldest-known member of the dinosaur group known as titanosaurs that includes the largest land animals in Earth's history.
Researchers
said on Monday the fossils represent a dinosaur species named
Ninjatitan zapatai that lived 140 million years ago during the
Cretaceous Period. They identified Ninjatitan as a titanosaur, a group
of long-necked plant-eating dinosaurs that walked on four pillar-like
legs.
The
dinosaur's incomplete skeletal remains were discovered south of the
city of Neuquen. The researchers said Ninjatitan demonstrated that the
titanosaurs as a group first appeared longer ago than previously known.
"It
is the oldest record known, not only from Argentina but worldwide,"
study lead author Pablo Gallina, a researcher at the National Council
for Scientific and Technical Research of Argentina (CONICET), told
Reuters. "Titanosaurs are recorded on various sides of the world, but
the oldest-known records were more modern than this find."
At
a length of about 65 feet (20 meters), Ninjatitan was a large dinosaur,
but much smaller than later titanosaurs such as Argentinosaurus that
reached a length of around 115 feet (35 meters). The researchers also
said the presence of such an early titanosaur in Patagonia supports the
idea that titanosaurs originated in the Southern Hemisphere.
The findings were published in the scientific journal Ameghiniana.
Titanosaurs
are part of a larger dinosaur group called sauropods that includes
others with similar body designs such as Brontosaurus and Diplodocus
that lived in North America during the Jurassic Period, which preceded
the Cretaceous Period.
Dinosaur fossils Discovered Could belong to the World's Largest Ever Creature, Jan 20, 2021
A number of the titanosaurs that inhabited Patagonia achieved
gigantic proportions such as Argentinosaurus, Patagotitan and
Dreadnoughtus.
José Luis Carbadillo, another CONICET researcher, told a local university publication
that the age of Ninjatitan's remains could have led people to assume
that the bones belonged to a dinosaur group that pre-dated titanosaurs.
"In Patagonia, titanosaurs are only known about from less than 120 million years ago," he said.
That sure is one large mean looking creature that I wouldn't like to meet whilst out hunting
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| That sure is one large mean looking creature that I wouldn't like to meet whilst out hunting |
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