''Turiasaurus'' (meaning " Turia lizard") is a genus of

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 ...

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...

s. It is known from a single fossil specimen representing the species ''Turiasaurus riodevensis'', found in the

Kimmeridgian In the geologic timescale, the Kimmeridgian is an age in the Late Jurassic Epoch and a stage in the Upper Jurassic Series. It spans the time between 157.3 ± 1.0 Ma and 152.1 ± 0.9 Ma (million years ago). The Kimmeridgian follows the Oxford ...

Villar del Arzobispo Formation The Villar del Arzobispo Formation is a Late Jurassic to possibly Early Cretaceous geologic formation in eastern Spain. It is equivalent in age to the Lourinhã Formation of Portugal. It was originally thought to date from the Late Tithonian-Middl ...

of Teruel,

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") , ...

Description

''Turiasaurus'' is believed to be the largest dinosaur ever found in Europe, and is among the largest dinosaurs known. It is estimated at in length and with a weight of .Royo-Torres, R., Cobos, A., and Alcalá, L. (2006). "A Giant European Dinosaur and a New Sauropod Clade." ''Science'' 314: 1925-1927.Paul, G.S., 2010, The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs, Princeton University Press. The length of its skull is 70 centimetres, which is not too large. According to the

paleontologist Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...

Luis Alcalá Luis Alcalá Martínez is a Spanish paleontologist. Biography Dr. Luis Alcalá is a Spanish Paleontologist. He is the director of Fundación Conjunto Paleontológico de Teruel-Dinópolis, in Teruel, Spain. He is one of the discoverers of ''Turi ...

, this is because a larger head might have caused ''Turiasaurus'' to break its neck. Phylogenetic analysis shows that ''Turiasaurus'' lies outside of the

Neosauropoda Neosauropoda is a clade within Dinosauria, coined in 1986 by Argentine paleontologist José Bonaparte and currently described as '' Saltasaurus loricatus'', '' Diplodocus longus'', and all animals directly descended from their most recent common ...

division and belongs to a new clade,

Turiasauria Turiasauria is an unranked clade of basal sauropod dinosaurs known from Middle Jurassic to Early Cretaceous deposits in Europe, North America, and Africa. Description Turiasauria was originally erected by Royo-Torres et al. (2006) to include '' ...

, together with ''

Losillasaurus ''Losillasaurus'' (meaning " Losilla lizard") is a genus of sauropod dinosaur from the Late Jurassic and possibly Early Cretaceous (Kimmeridgian-?Berriasian) in the southeast of Spain. The type species of the turiasaurian ''Losillasaurus giganteu ...

'' and '' Galveosaurus''.

History

Fragmentary remains of this animal, including an articulated left forelimb (

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of seve ...

), skull fragments, teeth, vertebrae and ribs, have been found in terrestrial deposits of the Villar del Arzobispo Formation of Riodeva (Teruel Province,

). A forelimb from Portugal. is now seen as ''

Zby atlanticus ''Zby'' is an extinct genus of turiasaurian sauropod dinosaur known from the Late Jurassic (late Kimmeridgian stage) of the Lourinhã Formation, central west Portugal. It contains a single species, ''Zby atlanticus''. It is named after Georges Z ...

''.Octávio Mateus, Philip D. Mannion & Paul Upchurch (2014) Zby atlanticus, a new turiasaurian sauropod (Dinosauria, Eusauropoda) from the Late Jurassic of Portugal, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 34:3, 618-634, DOI: 10.1080/02724634.2013.822875 The type species, ''Turiasaurus riodevensis'', was formally described by Royo-Torres, Cobos & Alcala, in 2006. In the early 2010s, excavations were made east of

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

that uncovered the most complete fossil of such creatures in the whole world.

References

External links

BBC report on ''Turiasaurus''

Fact-Sheet with picture (in german)''

Fundación Conjunto Paleontológico de Teruel''
{{Taxonbar, from=Q133837 Turiasauria Kimmeridgian life Late Jurassic dinosaurs of Europe Jurassic Spain Fossils of Spain Fossil taxa described in 2006