Bustingorrytitan
| Bustingorrytitan Temporal range: Late Cretaceous,
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|---|---|
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | Saurischia |
| Clade: | †Sauropodomorpha |
| Clade: | †Sauropoda |
| Clade: | †Macronaria |
| Clade: | †Titanosauria |
| Clade: | †Lithostrotia |
| Genus: | †Bustingorrytitan Simón & Salgado, 2023 |
| Species: | †B. shiva
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| Binomial name | |
| †Bustingorrytitan shiva Simón & Salgado, 2023
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Bustingorrytitan (meaning "Bustingorry's giant") is a genus of lithostrotian titanosaur from the Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian) Huincul Formation of Argentina. The type species is Bustingorrytitan shiva.[1]
Discovery and naming
In 2001, several sauropod skeletons were uncovered at Villa El Chocón. This sauropod was announced in a conference the same year by Simón, and received the informal name of "Sauropodus". [2]. It was first described in 2011, in a thesis by María Edith Simón.[3]
The holotype of Bustingorrytitan is MMCH-Pv 59/1-40, a partial skeleton. Four specimens are known, together including parts of the dentary and postcranial skeleton.
It was named as a new genus and species of titanosaur in 2023. The generic name, "Bustingorrytitan", honors Manuel Bustingorry, the person who owns the land where the fossils were found, combining his name with the Greek titan, in reference to its large size. The specific name, "shiva", is named after the Hindu god Shiva, who destroys and transforms the universe, in reference to the Cenomanian-Turonian faunal turnover.[1]
Description
Bustingorrytitan is estimated as weighing approximately 67.3 tonnes (66.2 long tons; 74.2 short tons), making it one of the largest titanosaurs.[1]
Classification
Bustingorrytitan was entered into a phylogenetic analysis and recovered as a member of the Lithostrotia, which itself is recovered as a subclade of the Saltasauroidea, in contrast to most analyses. The results of the analysis are shown in the cladogram below:[1]
Paleoecology
Bustingorrytitan was recovered from the Huincul Formation alongside two other gigantic titanosaurs, Argentinosaurus and Chucarosaurus. The three are not closely related to one another, which means that giant titanosaurs evolved multiple times within Eutitanosauria.[1]
References
- ^ a b c d e Simón, M. E.; Salgado, L. (2023). "A new gigantic titanosaurian sauropod from the early Late Cretaceous of Patagonia (Neuquén Province, Argentina)". Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. doi:10.4202/app.01086.2023.
- ^ Simón, Edith, (2001). A giant sauropod from the Upper Cretaceous of El Chocon.
- ^ Simón, M.E. 2011. Los dinosaurios saurópodos de la Formación Huincul (Cenomaniano superior) en Villa El Chocón (Neuquén): osteología, relaciones filogenéticas, aspectos paleoecológicos, y paleobiogeográficos. 493 pp. Unpublished Thesis, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Córdoba
