The 20-meter-high lizard was discovered in Argentina in 2014 and roamed what is now Patagonia about 140 million years ago.
–
Scientists said on Sunday that a huge dinosaur discovered in Argentina may be the oldest titanosaur ever found, after it roamed what is now Patagonia about 140 million years ago at the start of the Cretaceous period.
The University of La Matanza stated in its analysis that the 65-foot (20 m) lizard, Ninjatitan zapatai, was discovered in 2014 in Neuquen Province in southwestern Argentina.
“The main importance of this fossil, apart from being a new type of titanosaur, is that it is the oldest recorded for this group in all parts of the world,” a statement quoted researcher Pablo Galina from the Conicet Scientific Council as saying.
Titanosaurs were members of the group of sauropods – giant plant-eating lizards with their long necks and tails that were perhaps the largest animals ever to walk on Earth.
The new discovery means that dinosaurs lived longer than previously thought – at the beginning of the Cretaceous period, which ended with the demise of the dinosaurs, about 66 million years ago, the statement said.
Galina, the lead author of a study published in the Argentinian scientific journal Ameghiniana, said that fossils dating back 140 million years are “really very rare”.
The creature is named after Argentine paleontologist Sebastian Apistaguia, nicknamed “The Ninja,” and the artist Rogelio Zapata.
–
–
“Furiously humble internet amateurs. Proud hooligans. Web lover. businessman. Award-winning music lawyer.
— –
