New 22-foot-long titanosaur found in Argentina

A crew of paleontologists discovered a brand new long-necked dinosaur species close to a big salt flat in Argentina. Chadititan calvoi, or “titan of the salt” is estimated to have been about 22 feet-long and lived about 78 million years in the past. The brand new species of titanosaur is described in a research printed March 5 within the journal Revista del Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales.

From its well-preserved bones, the paleontologists consider that Chadititan was a small and slender dinosaur, with elongated vertebrae and delicate limbs that set it aside from different titanosaurs. It was an herbivore and belonged to the Rinconsaurian group.

The bones have been uncovered close to a salt flat within the Anacleto Formation in northern Patagonia, Argentina and located amongst fossils of historic snails, garfishes, crocodile kin, clams, freshwater turtles, and different organisms. Amongst this prehistoric treasure trove, the crew uncovered the primary fossil document of a household of tropical land snails–Neocyclotidae–and the primary instance of a small, tropical air-breathing land snail within the genus Leptinaria. This space was as soon as a small pond surrounded by sand dunes and palm timber in what was a extra arid and dry surroundings. 

“Along with Chadititan, the fossils we recognized of mollusks, fish, and turtles, enriches our understanding of this historic ecosystem and expands our data of life in Patagonia close to the top of the dinosaur period,” Diego Pol, a research co-author, paleontologist, and Nationwide Geographic Explorer, stated in a press release. “Simply by trying on the presence or absence of species in an space can counsel what makes the surroundings distinctive. On this case, the abundance of turtles and shortage of crocodiles in comparison with areas in Europe and North America throughout the identical interval additional highlights how Patagonian ecosystems have been distinct because the continents drifted aside through the Cretaceous.” 

Freshwater turtles made up over 90 % of the recovered fossils, which shocked the analysis crew, who represented organizations in Argentina and Uruguay. Throughout the Cretaceous Interval, this area was teeming with dinosaurs together with megaraptors and Giganotosaurus, however paleontologists didn’t count on to see this many turtles. 

“This excessive share is extremely uncommon, as in coeval websites from North America and Europe, turtles not often account for greater than 50% of the fauna,” research co-author and paleontologist Federico Agnolin stated in a press release.

Continued research of the world goals to broaden our scientific understanding of the dinosaurs and different vertebrates that lived in Patagonia over the last 15 million years of the Cretaceous. Pol’s work may also construct an animal database to assist different researchers establish the extinction patterns on the finish of the Cretaceous in South America and the way they associated to different areas of the world.