''Soriatitan'' ("Soria titan") is a genus of

brachiosaurid The Brachiosauridae ("arm lizards", from Greek ''brachion'' (βραχίων) = "arm" and ''sauros'' = "lizard") are a family or clade of herbivorous, quadrupedal sauropod dinosaurs. Brachiosaurids had long necks that enabled them to access the le ...

sauropod Sauropoda (), whose members are known as sauropods (; from '' sauro-'' + '' -pod'', 'lizard-footed'), is a clade of saurischian ('lizard-hipped') dinosaurs. Sauropods had very long necks, long tails, small heads (relative to the rest of their bo ...

from the Early Cretaceous of

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. It is known from one species, ''S. golmayensis'', found in the Golmayo Formation. It lived between 138 and 130 million years ago was identified by a team of paleontologists in Spain.

Discovery and naming

The only known specimen of ''Soriatitan'', ''S. golmayensis'', was discovered in the Golmayo Formation (upper Hauterivian–lower Barremian) in

Soria Soria () is a municipality and a Spanish city, located on the Douro river in the east of the autonomous community of Castile and León and capital of the province of Soria. Its population is 38,881 (INE, 2017), 43.7% of the provincial population. ...

province,

. The material was found in the Zorralbo 1 deposit located in the vicinity of the population of Golmayo. Excavation began in 2000 by a team of paleontologists from the province of Soria, and preparation began in 2009, aided by the Dinópolis Foundation.

Description

The known material of ''S. golmayensis'' (MNS 2001/122) consists of one tooth, three dorsal vertebrae with ribs, a partial sacrum, five caudal centra, two caudal vertebral spines, one chevron, a humerus, an ulna, a radius, two partial ilia, two ischia, a fragment of a pubis, and a partial femur. It is estimated to have been 43–46 feet long (13–14 meters) and had an estimated weight of about 8 tons. Cladistic analysis has identified the known material as belonging to

Brachiosauridae The Brachiosauridae ("arm lizards", from Greek ''brachion'' (βραχίων) = "arm" and ''sauros'' = "lizard") are a family or clade of herbivorous, quadrupedal sauropod dinosaurs. Brachiosaurids had long necks that enabled them to access the ...

within

Titanosauriformes Macronaria is a clade of sauropod dinosaurs. Macronarians are named after the large diameter of the nasal opening of their skull, known as the external naris, which exceeded the size of the orbit, the skull opening where the eye is located (hence ...

. The known material shares similar characteristics with both European and North American brachiosaurids. It has similar anteriorly deflected anterior–middle caudal neural spines to ''

Cedarosaurus ''Cedarosaurus'' (meaning "Cedar lizard" - named after the Cedar Mountain Formation, in which it was discovered) was a nasal-crested macronarian dinosaur genus from the Early Cretaceous Period (Valanginian). It was a sauropod which lived in what i ...

'', ''

Tastavinsaurus ''Tastavinsaurus'' is a genus of sauropod dinosaur belonging to the Titanosauriformes. It is based on a partial skeleton from the Early Cretaceous Xert Formation of Spain. The type species is ''Tastavinsaurus sanzi'', named in honor of the R ...

'', and ''

Venenosaurus ''Venenosaurus'' ( ) was a sauropod dinosaur. The name literally means "poison lizard", and it was named so after the Poison Strip Member of the Cedar Mountain Formation in Utah, United States, where the fossils were discovered by a Denver Museum ...

'', and a proximodistally straight lateral margin between the proximal head and the humerus shaft with ''

''. The specimen was an adult with small 0.7 inch (18mm) teeth that indicates it was, like all other sauropods, a grazer. Fossilized remains of plants that lived at the same time as Soriatitan indicate that it lived in a subtropical climate in a landscape dominated by conifer trees, which would have been its main food source. The discovery of ''S. golmayensis'', indicates that there was a presence of

Early Cretaceous The Early Cretaceous ( geochronological name) or the Lower Cretaceous (chronostratigraphic name), is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous. It is usually considered to stretch from 145 Ma to 100.5 Ma. Geology Pro ...

brachiosaurids in both

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

and

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, supporting the hypothesis of a connection between the

tectonic plates Plate tectonics (from the la, label=Late Latin, tectonicus, from the grc, τεκτονικός, lit=pertaining to building) is the generally accepted scientific theory that considers the Earth's lithosphere to comprise a number of large te ...

of these continents at some point during the Early Cretaceous. ''S. golmayensis'' is the only known brachiosarid described from the Early Cretaceous of Europe. Until this discovery, it was thought that brachiosaurids had become extinct in Europe around 130 million years ago.

References

External links

* *
Ecoticias.com article
- Article on the discovery of ''Soriatitan'' (Spanish)
''Soriatitan'' entry on Dinochecker.com
Fossil taxa described in 2017 Brachiosaurs Early Cretaceous dinosaurs of Europe {{sauropodomorph-stub

Discovery and naming

Description

See also

References

External links