The entrance to the town of Rincón de los Sauces.
Since the discovery of dinosaur remains in the Neuquen basin in 1882, Argentina has gained the title of Land of the Giants. The tittle was reinforced by the discoveries of titanosaurs like Argentinosaurus, Dreadnoughtus, Notocolossus, Puertasaurus, and Patagotitan. The study of this diverse group of sauropod dinosaurs embrace an extensive list of important contributions, which started with Richard Lydekker’s pioneering work on Patagonian dinosaurs, and by the classic Friedrich von Huene monograph on Argentinean saurischians and ornithischians.
Titanosaurus were a diverse group of sauropod dinosaurs represented by more than 30 genera, which included all descendants of the more recent common ancestor of Andesaurus and Saltasaurus. The group includes the smallest (e.g. Rinconsaurus, Saltasaurus; with estimated body masses of approximately 6 tonnes) and the largest sauropods known to date. They had their major radiation during the middle Early Cretaceous. The evolution of body mass in this clade is key element to understand sauropod evolution.
Cranial elements of MAU-Pv-CM-522/1. From Filippi et al., 2019.
Kaijutitan maui, is the first basal sauropod titanosaur from the Sierra Barrosa Formation (Upper Coniacian, Upper Cretaceous). The holotype (MAU-Pv-CM-522) consists of cranial, axial, and appendicular elements presenting an unique combination of plesiomorphic and apomorphic characters. The generic name Kaijutitan is derived from Kaiju, Japanese word that means “strange beast” or “monster”, and titan, from the Greek “giant”. The species name refers to the acronym of the Museo Municipal Argentino Urquiza, Rincon de los Sauces, Neuquén, Argentina.
The cranial elements of this specimen include the complete neurocranium (the supraoccipital, exoccipital, left paraoccipital process, left exoccipital-opisthotic-prootic complex, left laterosphenoid and orbitosphoid, and basioccipital-basisphenoid complex). The impossibility of recognizing clear sutures suggest an ontogenetic adult stage of the specimen. One of the most notable autapomorphies exhibited by Kaijutitan is the anterior cervical vertebra with bifid neural spine, a feature usually found in diplodocids and dicraeosaurids. Unfortunately, the femur and humerus of Kaijutitan maui are incomplete, therefore the body mass of this titanosaur can only be estimated by comparison with other titanosauriforms. Kaijutitan would have had a body mass similar or intermediate to that of Giraffatitan (38.000 kg) and Notocolossus (60.398 kg).
References:
Filippi, L.S., Salgado, L., Garrido, A.C., A new giant basal titanosaur sauropod in the Upper Cretaceous (Coniacian) of the Neuquén Basin, Argentina, Cretaceous Research, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2019.03.008.
Letters from Gondwana. 