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Possibly New Dinosaur fossil discovered

Could be the largest creature to ever exist on earth

Reporter Victoria Nuzzi

A titanosaur dinosaur was discovered in 2012 in Argentina and could possibly be the largest species to ever walk the earth if it is indeed a new species. The fossils that have been recently unearthed in 2021 suggest that it is a species of titanosaur (a diverse group of sauropod dinosaurs) and could be the largest on record.

It was discovered in the Neuquén Province in northwest Patagonia in 2012 but has not yet been fully excavated to date. It was extracted from the area’s dense sedimentary deposits that are called the Candeleros Formation.

The Patagonia region is famous for the findings of large titanosaurs and other sauropods.

The excavation is being conducted by researchers from The Zapala Museum, Museo de La Plata, Museo Egidio Feruglio, and the universities of Río Negro and Zaragoza.

“Given the measurements of the new skeleton, it looks likely that this is a contender for one of the largest, if not the largest, sauropods that have ever been found,” said Paul Barrett, a paleobiologist at the Natural History Museum in London.

The remains of the so-far unnamed dinosaur are estimated to be approximately 98 million years old. It was estimated to have died during the Cretaceous period which was the final period of the dinosaurs.

The titanosaur could have weighed more than 69 tons.

Not enough of the fossils of the titanosaur has been excavated to declare it a new species, but the researchers believe that once the excavation is finished they will be able to classify it as a new species.

“The place of the finding is very hard to access, so the logistics is pretty complicated, But we expect to return after the pandemic situation,” said Alejandro Otero, the lead study author and a paleontologist at La Plata Museum in Argentina.

It is hard to tell exactly how large the titanosaur was because the bones used to make those estimates like the humerus and femur have not been excavated yet.

The researchers have found 24 vertebrae of the titanosaur’s tail and parts of the pelvic and pectoral girdle. These fossils that have been excavated do suggest that it is likely it is the largest of the titanosaurs.

“In addition to the total size, the bones are articulated. Something we haven’t seen in dinosaurs this size until now. For now, we find the articular vertebrae of the tail and hip bones. Phylogenetic analysis shows us that it is a basal form of Patagotitan bloodline and is known as Lognkpsauria, a group of South American titanosaurs.” wrote José Luis Carballido on the museum’s official Facebook announcement.

It is estimated it will even be larger than the Patagotitan that holds the record for the largest dinosaur that ever walked the earth.

“It is a huge dinosaur, but we expect to find much more of the skeleton in future field trips, so we’ll have the possibility to address with confidence how big it really was,” Stated Otero

The research was published in the journal of Cretaceous Research on January 12th, 2021.