Dreadnoughtus

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Dreadnoughtus
Dreadnoughtus schrani, skeletal reconstruction

Dreadnoughtus schrani , skeletal reconstruction

Temporal occurrence
Upper Chalk
Locations

Patagonia

Systematics
Lizard dinosaur (Saurischia)
Sauropodomorpha
Sauropods (Sauropoda)
Titanosauriformes
Titanosaurs (Titanosauria)
Dreadnoughtus
Scientific name
Dreadnoughtus
Lacovara et al., 2014

Dreadnoughtus schrani (from English dread nought , German "fear nothing") is a sauropod from the group of titanosaurs . His skeleton, 70% preserved, was found in Cerro Fortaleza on the eastern bank of the Rio La Leona in the province of Santa Cruz in southwestern Patagonia ( Argentina ) by Kenneth Lacovara . It comes from the Upper Cretaceous from the Campanian to Maastrichtian epochs84 to 66 million years ago. Along with the Argentinosaurus, it is considered to be thelargest and heaviest dinosaur species.

The skeleton of the Dreadnoughtus is (next to that of the Futalognkosaurus ) the most complete skeleton of a titanosaur to date. With the exception of the skull and large parts of the cervical spine, almost the entire remaining skeleton could be excavated. The fossil remains include an upper jaw bone ( maxilla ), a tooth, two cervical vertebrae with cervical ribs , the trunk spine (8 vertebrae) with ribs , the entire caudal spine (32 vertebrae) with 18 hemal arches , the shoulder and pelvic girdles and the bones of the anterior and posterior spine  Hind legs with the exception of the feet (apart from some isolated foot bones).

The body length of the specimen of Dreadnoughtus schrani from head to tail is estimated to be 26 m. His body mass was initially given as approx. 59.3 tons and was corrected to a weight of approx. 40 tons in mid-2015. The specimen was not yet fully grown because the scapula had not yet grown together with the coracoid .

The dinosaur is named after the American entrepreneur Adam Schran, who financially supported the research project.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kenneth Lacovara: Hunting for dinosaurs showed me our place in the universe. In: www.ted.com. Retrieved April 22, 2016 .
  2. ↑ a b c d Kenneth J. Lacovara et al .: A Gigantic, Exceptionally Complete Titanosaurian Sauropod Dinosaur from Southern Patagonia, Argentina. (PDF) Nature , September 4, 2014, accessed September 4, 2014 .
  3. ↑ a b Jonathan Amos: Dreadnought dinosaur yields big bone haul. BBC Science, September 4, 2014, accessed September 4, 2014 .
  4. ^ Karl T. Bates, Peter L. Falkingham, Sophie Macaulay, Charlotte Brassey, Susannah CR Maidment: Downsizing a giant: re-evaluating Dreadnoughtus body mass. Biology Letters, June 2015, DOI: 10.1098 / rsbl.2015.0215

Web links

Commons : Dreadnoughtus  - collection of images, videos and audio files