Buenos Aires:
A colossal dinosaur dug up in Argentina could be the oldest titanosaur ever identified, possessing roamed what is now Patagonia some 140 million years ago at the starting of the Cretaceous period, scientists stated Sunday.
The 65-foot (20-meter) lizard, Ninjatitan zapatai, was found in 2014 in the Neuquen province of southwest Argentina, the La Matanza University reported on its evaluation.
“The main importance of this fossil, apart from being a new species of titanosaur, is that it is the oldest recorded for this group worldwide,” a statement quoted researcher Pablo Gallina of the Conicet scientific council as saying.
Titanosaurs had been members of the sauropod group — gigantic plant-consuming lizards with lengthy necks and tails that could have been the biggest animals ever to stroll the Earth.
The new discovery, the statement stated, meant titanosaurs lived longer ago than previously believed — at the starting of the Cretaceous era that ended with the demise of the dinosaurs some 66 million years ago.
Fossils from 140 million years ago are “really very scarce” stated Gallina, principal author of a study published in the Argentinian scientific journal Ameghiniana.
The creature was named right after Argentinian paleontologist Sebastian Apesteguia, nicknamed “El Ninja,” and technician Rogelio Zapata.
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