The world of paleontology has a new member. Paleontologists in Argentina have discovered a new species of Titanosaur called Titanomachya gimenezi from the late Cretaceous Epoch, which occurred between 66 and 145 million years ago.
The discovery happened in the Chubut area of Patagonian Argentina. Titanomachya fossils were discovered among forelimbs and hindlimbs, as well as rib and vertebral fragments. This is the first sauropod species identified from this formation.
“The morphology of the talus – the bone responsible for distributing the force coming from the tibia on the inside of the foot – was never seen before in other titanosaurs and shows intermediate traits between the Colossosauria and Saltasauroidea lineages, highlighting its evolutionary importance,” said first author Agustín Pérez Moreno from CONICET and Museo de La Plata in a statement.
What is the size of the new Titanosaur species?
Using the length of the tibia and fibula fossils, the researchers were able to extrapolate the titanosaur’s entire size, which was just 6 feet tall.
Titanomachya gimenezi is a completely new species and the first sauropod discovered in the La Colonia Formation
“It is also the smallest known titanosaur from central Patagonia having weighed an estimated 7 tons — about 10 times smaller than its giant titanosaur counterparts,” according to National Geographic..
It was ten times smaller than its larger titanosaur relatives. For example, Patagotitan mayorum weighed around 7 tons.
Their relevance, despite their diminutive size, rests in the larger picture of dinosaur diversity during the late Cretaceous period.
The National Geographic Society collaborated with more than ten museums and universities in Argentina, including the Museo de La Plata, to make the discovery.
The project’s goal is to fill the information gap about the last 15 million years of the Cretaceous Period. It concentrates on the dinosaurs and animals that survived in Patagonia at this key time.
“The discovery of Titanomachya, adds to previous data suggesting there was a major ecological change as the Cretaceous [Period] was coming to an end, marked by the downsizing of titanosaurs, a decrease in their abundance, and the predominance of other herbivorous dinosaurs, such as hadrosaurs on the landscape,” said National Geographic Explorer Diego Pol in a release. “This ecological shift in herbivorous dinosaurs occurred amidst changing climates and habitats, as well as the advance of the Atlantic Ocean over large parts of Patagonia.”