Paleontologists have found a new species of titanosaurian, a member of the large-bodied sauropods that thrived during the final period of the dinosaur age, in Tanzania.
The Ohio University paleontologists have described a rare find of sauropod dinosaur skeleton from Africa, which is a unique as their fossils have been discovered around the globe, especially in South America, few have been recovered from the continent of Africa.
The species, called Rukwatitan bisepultus, was first spotted by scientists embedded in a cliff wall in the Rukwa Rift Basin of southwestern Tanzania.
Researchers unearthed vertebrae, ribs, limbs and pelvic bones over the course of two field seasons with the help of professional excavators and coal miners.
The species, which lived approximately 100 million years ago during the middle of the Cretaceous Period, were herbivorous dinosaurs known for their iconic large body sizes, long necks and wide stance.
The study was published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
