''Gondwanatitan'' (meaning "giant from

Gondwana Gondwana ( ; ) was a large landmass, sometimes referred to as a supercontinent. The remnants of Gondwana make up around two-thirds of today's continental area, including South America, Africa, Antarctica, Australia (continent), Australia, Zea ...

") was a

titanosaur Titanosaurs (or titanosaurians; members of the group Titanosauria) were a diverse group of sauropod dinosaurs, including genera from all seven continents. The titanosaurs were the last surviving group of long-necked sauropods, with taxa still thr ...

ian

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 b ...

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

. ''Gondwanatitan'' was found in

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

, at the time part of the southern supercontinent

, in the late

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 143.1 to 66 mya (unit), million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era (geology), Era, as well as the longest. At around 77.1 million years, it is the ...

Period Period may refer to: Common uses * Period (punctuation) * Era, a length or span of time *Menstruation, commonly referred to as a "period" Arts, entertainment, and media * Period (music), a concept in musical composition * Periodic sentence (o ...

(70 mya). Like some other sauropods, ''Gondwanatitan'' was tall and ate tough shoots and leaves from the tops of trees. ''G. faustois closest relative was ''

Aeolosaurus ''Aeolosaurus'' (; "Aeolus' lizard") is a genus of titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Period (geology), Period of what is now South America. Like most sauropods, it would have been a quadrupedal herbivore with a long neck an ...

''. The

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

is ''Gondwanatitan faustoi'', formally described by Kellner and de Azevedo in

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

Etymology

''Gondwanatitan'' means "Gondwana Titan", and is named after

, the supercontinent that the genus' South American range was once part of, and the Titans of classical Greek mythology. The type and only named species, ''G. faustoi'', is a patronym honoring Dr. Fausto L. de Souza Cunha, a former curator at the Museu Nacional/UFRJ who led the excavation of the type specimen.

Description

''Gondwanatitan'' was a fairly small sauropod, only 7 meters (23 ft) long and weighing about 1 tonne (1.1 short tons). It had relatively gracile limb bones. The middle caudal vertebrae are distinctively "heart-shaped", which allows isolated caudal vertebrae to be easily distinguished from those of ''Aeolosaurus''. The vertebrae from the middle part of its tail had elongated

centra Centra is a convenience shop chain that operates throughout Ireland. The chain operates as a symbol group owned by Musgrave Group, the food wholesaler, meaning the individual shops are all owned by individual franchisees. The chain has three ...

. ''Gondwanatitan'' had vertebral lateral fossae that resembled shallow depressions. Fossae that similarly resemble shallow depressions are known from ''

Saltasaurus ''Saltasaurus'' (which means "lizard from Salta") is a genus of saltasaurid dinosaur of the Late Cretaceous Period (geology), period of Argentina. Small among sauropods, though still heavy by the standards of modern creatures, ''Saltasaurus'' was ...

'', ''

Alamosaurus ''Alamosaurus'' (; meaning "Ojo Alamo lizard") is a genus of titanosaurian sauropod dinosaurs containing a single known species, ''Alamosaurus sanjuanensis'', from the Maastrichtian age of the Late Cretaceous period in what is now southwestern ...

'', ''

Malawisaurus ''Malawisaurus'' (meaning "Malawi lizard") is an extinct genus of titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur. It is known from the Dinosaur Beds of northern Malawi, which probably date to the Aptian stage of the Early Cretaceous. The type species is ''M. di ...

'', and ''

''. Its middle tail vertebrae's

neural spines Each vertebra (: vertebrae) is an irregular bone with a complex structure composed of bone and some hyaline cartilage, that make up the vertebral column or spine, of vertebrates. The proportions of the vertebrae differ according to their spinal ...

are angled anteriorly when the vertebrae are aligned. These vertebrae resemble those of ''

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

'', ''

Venenosaurus ''Venenosaurus'' ( ) is a genus of sauropod dinosaur that lived in what is now Utah during the Early Cretaceous. Its type and only species is ''Venenosaurus dicrocei''. Fossils of ''Venenosaurus'' were first discovered in 1998, by Denver Museum o ...

'', and ''

''.

Classification

''Gondwanatitan'' is a member of the clade Aeolosauridae. It is closely related to the genera '' Pitekunsaurus'', ''

'', and '' Overosaurus''.

Provenance

The type specimen of ''Gondwanatitan faustoi'' was found in strata of the

Adamantina Formation The Adamantina Formation is a geological Formation (geology), formation in the Bauru Basin of western São Paulo (state), São Paulo state in southeastern Brazil. Its strata date back to the Late Cretaceous epoch of the Cretaceous, Cretaceous Per ...

. Other material assigned to the genus has been found in the Cambabe Formation.

History

The type specimen of ''Gondwanatitan faustoi'' was discovered in 1983 on the farm of Yoshitoshi Myzobuchi in

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

. The specimen was excavated between 1984 and 1986, but preparation work on the specimen did not begin in earnest until 1997. It was finally described as a new genus and species in 1999. In 2001, ''G. faustoi'' was briefly transferred to the genus ''Aeolosaurus'', making ''Gondwanatitan'' a junior synonym of that genus, but it has since been widely regarded as separate. Some elements of the holotype were lost in the National Museum of Brazil fire on 2 September 2018, but several elements survived the fire and were recovered.

References

External links

''Gondwanatitan'' site (in French)

''Gondwanatitan''
in the Paleobiology Database {{Taxonbar, from=Q134063 Lithostrotia Dinosaur genera Maastrichtian dinosaurs Adamantina Formation Taxa named by Alexander Kellner Fossil taxa described in 1999 Dinosaurs of Brazil