Scientists discovered a new gigantic dinosaur. You know you're excited.
A team from Ohio University unearthed the fossilized remains of a Rukwatitan bisepultus, a new titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur (titanosaur) species, from a cliff wall in the Rukwa Rift Basin of southeastern Tanzania.
Scientists worked for several months, with the help of professional excavators and coal miners, to excavate vertebrae, ribs, limbs and pelvic bones. This massive herbivore roamed the Earth approximately 100 million years ago during the mid-Cretaceous Period. Researchers estimate that Rukwatitan bisepultus stretched 30 feet from head to tail, had seven-foot-long front legs and weighed as much as “several elephants.”
This discovery comes on the heels of another massive dinosaur find. Researchers recently announced the discovery of the Dreadnoughtus in Argentina, which is among the largest known titanosaurs.
Few fossils of titanosaurs have been recovered from the continent of Africa. Four, to be precise.
“This titanosaur finding is rare for Africa, and will help resolve questions about the distribution and regional characteristics of what would later become one of the largest land animals known," explains Paul Filmer, program director in the National Science Foundation's division of earth sciences. “Titanosaurians make up the vast majority of known Cretaceous sauropods, and have been found on every continent, yet Africa has so far yielded only four formally recognized members.”
The team performed CT scans and compared the fossils with other titanosaurs, revealing Rukwatitan’s unique features that distinguish it from previous finds, including those from other parts of Africa. Study co-author Patrick O'Connor, a professor of anatomy in the Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine, explains that Rukwatitan’s bones exhibit similarities with Malawisaurus dixeyi, a titanosaur discovered in Malawi. But the two dinosaurs are distinctly different from one another and from northern Africa titanosaurs.
Although not among the largest of titanosaurs, scientists are excited about the new discovery as it helps fill in gaps, and helps paint a clearer picture of the world during the time when dinosaurs walked the Earth.
The team’s research was funded by the National Science Foundation's Division of Earth Sciences, the National Geographic Society, the Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine, and the Ohio University Office of the Vice President for Research and Creative Activity. And the findings were published in the September 8 issue of the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
