Ohio University paleontologists have identified a new species of titanosaurian, a member of the large-bodied sauropods that thrived during the final period of the dinosaur¹ age, in Tanzania. Although many fossils of titanosaurians have been discovered around the globe, especially in South America, few have been recovered from the continent of Africa. The new species, named Rukwatitan bisepultus, was first spotted² by scientists embedded³ in a cliff wall in the Rukwa Rift⁴ Basin of southwestern Tanzania. Using the help of professional excavators and coal miners, the team unearthed⁵ vertebrae, ribs⁶, limbs and pelvic bones over the course of two field seasons.

 

CT scans of the fossils, combined with detailed⁷ comparisons with other sauropods, revealed unique features that suggested an animal that was different from previous finds -- including those from elsewhere in Africa, according to a study the team published today in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.

 

"Using both traditional and new computational approaches, we were able to place the new species within the family tree of sauropod dinosaurs⁸ and determine both its uniqueness as a species and to delineate others species with which it is most closely related," said lead author Eric Gorscak, a doctoral student in biological sciences at Ohio University.

 

Rukwatitan bisepultus lived approximately 100 million years ago during the middle of the Cretaceous Period. Titanosaurian sauropods, the group that includes Rukwatitan, were herbivorous dinosaurs known for their iconic large body sizes, long necks and wide stance. Although not among the largest of titanosaurians, Rukwatitan is estimated to have a forelimb reaching 2 meters and may have weighed as much as several elephants.

 

The dinosaur's bones exhibit similarities with another titanosaurian, Malawisaurus dixeyi, previously⁹ recovered in Malawi. But the two southern African dinosaurs are distinctly different from one another, and, most notably¹⁰, from titanosaurians known from northern Africa, said co-author Patrick O'Connor, a professor of anatomy¹¹ in the Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine.

 

The fossils of middle Cretaceous crocodile relatives from the Rukwa Rift Basin also exhibit distinctive¹² features when compared to forms from elsewhere on the continent.

 

"There may have been certain environmental features, such as deserts, large waterways and/or mountain ranges, that would have limited the movement of animals and promoted the evolution of regionally distinct faunas¹³," O'Connor said. "Only additional data on the faunas and paleo environments from around the continent will let us further test such hypotheses."

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