''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 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 ...

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 154.8 ±0.8 Ma and 149.2 ±0.7 Ma (million years ago). The Kimmeridgian follows the Oxfordian ...

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-Mid ...

of Teruel,

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

Description

''Turiasaurus'' is believed to be the largest dinosaur ever found in Europe, and is among the largest dinosaurs known. It was originally estimated at over , possibly around 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. More recent estimates suggest a length of in length, but a comparable weight of .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 as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure geolo ...

Luis Alcalá, 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 Argentina, Argentine paleontologist José Bonaparte and currently described as ''Saltasaurus loricatus'', ''Diplodocus longus'', and all animals directly descended from their most recent ...

division and belongs to a new clade,

Turiasauria Turiasauria is an unranked clade of eusauropod 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 '' Tur ...

, together with '' Losillasaurus'' and '' Galvesaurus''.

History

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

holotype A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...

), 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''.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 List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

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 Dinosaur genera Kimmeridgian dinosaurs Fossil taxa described in 2006 Dinosaurs of Spain