Angolatitan was a genus of somphospondyli sauropod from the Coniacian epoch of the Late Cretaceous in Africa, and one of the few sauropods from Sub-Saharan Africa. The type and only species of this genus is A. adamastor.
Etymology[]
'Angolatitan adamastor' was named in 2011. Its generic name 'Angolatitan' comes from Angola, where it was discovered, and 'titan' meaning Giant, which translates to 'Angolan Giant'. The specific name 'adamastor' is a mythological sea monster from South Atlantic, from stories from Portuguese sailors.
Discovery[]
In 2005, the first expeditions were made in Angola since the 1960s by the PaleoAngola Project, the bones were discovered in May of 2005 by Octávio Matues in the Tadi Beds of the Itombe Formation. The material included was from a partial right forelimb which included the scapula, humerus, ulna, radius, and three metacarpals.
Paleoecology[]
Angolatitan was found in the Tadi Beds in the Itombe Formation which included various species of ammonites, echinoderms, sharks like Squalicorax and Cretoxyrhina, and tetrapods including turtles like Angolachelys, mosasaurs like Angolasaurus and Tylosaurus, and plesiosaurians.