''Petrustitan'' is a eutitanosaurian

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 ...

from the Late Cretaceous (

Maastrichtian The Maastrichtian ( ) is, in the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) geologic timescale, the latest age (geology), age (uppermost stage (stratigraphy), stage) of the Late Cretaceous epoch (geology), Epoch or Upper Cretaceous series (s ...

) of

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

. The

type Type may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc. * Data type, collection of values used for computations. * File type * TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file. * ...

and only species is ''P. hungaricus'', originally assigned to the genus '' Magyarosaurus''.

History of discovery

In 1932,

Friedrich von Huene Baron Friedrich Richard von Hoyningen-Huene (22 March 1875 – 4 April 1969) was a German nobleman paleontologist who described a large number of dinosaurs, more than anyone else in 20th-century Europe. He studied a range of Permo-Carbonife ...

erected the genus '' Magyarosaurus'' and assigned three species based on sauropod specimens recovered from the

Sânpetru Formation The Sânpetru Formation is an Maastrichtian, early Maastrichtian geologic Formation (geology), formation. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation.Weishampel, et al. (2004). "Dinosaur distribution." Pp. 5 ...

: ''M. dacus'' (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 ...

), ''M. hungaricus'' and ''M. transsylvanicus''.von Huene, F. (1932). "Die fossile Reptil-Ordnung Saurischia, ihre Entwicklung und Geschichte." ''Mong. Geol. Pal.'', 4(1) pts. 1 and 2, viii +361 pp. However, subsequent analyses considered only ''M. dacus'' as a valid species of ''Magyarosaurus'', with "''M.''" ''transsylvanicus'' representing a

chimera Chimera, Chimaera, or Chimaira (Greek for " she-goat") originally referred to: * Chimera (mythology), a fire-breathing monster of ancient Lycia said to combine parts from multiple animals * Mount Chimaera, a fire-spewing region of Lycia or Cilicia ...

and partially a junior synonym of ''M. dacus'', and with "''M.''" ''hungaricus'' representing a distinct genus. Petrustitan hungaricus

In 2025, Díez Díaz and colleagues reassigned "''M.''" ''hungaricus'' to a new genus ''Petrustitan''. The generic name is derived from

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

words πέτρα (''pétra'', "stone, rock"), referring to the origin of the holotype (rocky outcrops of the type locality, Sânpetru), and τιτάν (''tītā́n'', "giant"), which is often used when naming

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

n sauropods. Both the paralectotype (left tibia) and

lectotype In biology, a type is a particular specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally associated. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes ...

(left fibula) of ''P. hungaricus'' are catalogued under the same specimen number, NHMUK R.3853. Some material originally referred to this taxon were also given a separate genus name, ''

Uriash ''Uriash'' is a genus of titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) of Romania. The holotype of this genus was originally referred to ''Magyarosaurus hungaricus'', which is now classified in a separate genus, '' Petr ...

''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q132639258 Titanosauria Dinosaur genera Maastrichtian dinosaurs Hațeg fauna Fossil taxa described in 2025 Dinosaurs of Romania