| Australotitan Temporal range: Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian - Turonian) | |
|---|---|
| |
| A model of Australotitan | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Sauropsida |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Genus: | †Australotitan Hocknull, 2021 |
| Species: | A. cooperensis |
| Binomial name | |
| Australotitan cooperensis Hocknull, 2021 | |
Australotitan (IPA: [au̯sˈtraːloʊtiˈtan]) is a genus of titanosaur sauropod dinosaur that lived during Early Cretaceous Australia, approximately 92-96 million years ago.
The ancient giant belongs to Titanosauria, a diverse group of sauropod dinosaurs known for containing some of the largest creatures to walk the earth.[1][2]
Discovery and naming[]
The fossilized skeleton of the new dinosaur was discovered in 2005 in the southern-central Winton Formation of the Eromanga Basin, Australia.[3]
In the early 2000s, Australia was at the beginning of a dinosaur-rush, with a number of significant new species of dinosaurs and megafauna being discovered in the past 20 years. quoted by Dr. Jim Thompson, CEO of Queensland Museum Network. He added: Australia is one of the last frontiers for dinosaur discovery and Queensland is quickly cementing itself as the paleo-capital of the nation — there is still plenty more to discover.
Australotitan cooperensis adds to the growing list of uniquely Australian dinosaur species discovered in Outback Queensland, and just as importantly showcases a totally new area for dinosaur discovery in Australia,” said Dr. Scott Hocknull, a researcher at the Queensland Museum and the University of Melbourne.[4][5]
Description[]
Australotitan represents the largest known Australian dinosaur. The discovery of Australotitan indicates that the gigantic titanosaurian sauropods were present during the mid-Cretaceous of eastern Gondwana.
Classification[]
In a phylogenetic analysis performed by Hocknull et al., Australotitan was recovered as a titanosaur.
Paleobiology[]
Life reconstruction of Australotitan cooperensis. Image credit: Vladislav Konstantinov / Scott Hocknull.
A. cooperensis was between 25-30 m (82-98 feet) long, 5 and 6.5 m (16.4-21.3 feet) high, and had a mass between 23 and 74 tons.
The large sauropod was, like the rest of its family, a herbivorous animal that ate massive amounts of food each day. Australotitan is the largest species of dinosaur ever found in Australia![6]
The paleontologists found that A cooperensis was closely related to three other Australian sauropods that lived during the Cretaceous period.[7][8]
Quote: “We compared the three species found to the north, near Winton, to our new Eromanga giant and it looks like Australia’s largest dinosaurs were all part of one big happy family,” Dr. Hocknull said. “We found that Australotitan cooperensis was the largest in the family, followed by Wintonotitan wattsi with big hips and long legs, whilst the two smaller sauropods, Diamantinasaurus matildae and Savannasaurus elliottorum were shorter in stature and heavily-set.”[9][10]
Gallery[]
Other Wikis[]
https://prehistoric-wiki.fandom.com/wiki/Australotitan
References[]
- ↑ http://www.sci-news.com/paleontology/australotitan-cooperensis-09741.html
- ↑ https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/06/08/australia-new-dinosaur-australotitan-cooperensis/
- ↑ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/australotitan-cooperensis-dinosaur-australia-discovered/
- ↑ https://www.npr.org/2021/06/08/1003975808/australia-biggest-dinosaur-titanosaur-cooper-discovery-outback
- ↑ https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-57394830
- ↑ https://www.scimex.org/newsfeed/meet-australias-largest-dinosaur-australotitan,-the-southern-titan
- ↑ https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/07/world/australia/new-dinosaur-species.html
- ↑ https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-06/p-mal060721.php
- ↑ https://peerj.com/articles/11317/
- ↑ https://www.npr.org/2021/06/08/1003975808/australia-biggest-dinosaur-titanosaur-cooper-discovery-outback