A team of paleontologists has unearthed the fossils of two new species of dinosaurs in northwestern China. Both groups of fossils belong to two species of giant dinosaurs, both twice the size of a bus, that lived in this area about 130 million years ago. Unearthed near the town of Hami in eastern Xinjiang, the huge sauropods, nicknamed ‘Hamititan’ and ‘Silutitan’, are among the earliest vertebrates in the region.
The two new dinosaurs have been named Silutitan sinensis (“silu” meaning “Silk Road” in Mandarin) and Hamititan xinjiangensis, a nod to the region where it was found. Both incorporate the Greek word “titan”, which means “giant”, in reference to their size. The Silutitan specimen is estimated to be over 20 meters long , while the Hamititan specimen was 17 meters long, almost as large as a blue whale (the largest living animal of our time).
These are not complete skeletons, but with the remains available, experts have also inferred that they would have had a long neck, long tail and thick legs and that they probably weighed about 40 and 35 tons, respectively. The shape and ridges along the vertebrae suggest that it belonged to a family of sauropods that were abundant in both Asia and South America.
Together, add the researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the two discoveries offer “further support for a widespread diversification of these sauropods during the Lower Cretaceous of Asia.”
The study
The experts examined a series of fossil fragments, including vertebrae and parts of the rib cage, from three individual dinosaurs, including a Hamititan, a Silutitan and the other an unidentified ‘somfospondylan’ sauropod. (Somphospondylans were a group of dinosaurs that lived 160.3 to 66 million years ago and were characterized by features that included the presence of at least 15 neck vertebrae and radial beveled bones .) They identified distinctive features in all the fossilized remains and compared them to other sauropod dinosaurs from other parts of China and beyond until they discovered that the first two sets of bones belonged to previously unknown species.
According to the researchers, the nature of Silutitan’s neck vertebrae suggests that it belonged to a family of sauropods known as Euhelopodidae , which to date have only been unearthed from sites in East Asia. On the other hand, Hamititan, was identified from seven tail vertebrae, who seems to have similarities with members of the genera Rapetosaurus and Opisthocoelicaudia.
Golden age for China
The Hami site is known for the abundance of fossils of the pterosaur Hamipterus tianshanensis, including perfectly preserved embryos and eggs.
Dinosaur fossils in China were unearthed thanks to a collaborative effort between the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the National Museum of Brazil. The findings of the Chinese fossils were published in the journal Scientific Reports , titled “The First Dinosaurs of the Hami Pterosaur Fauna of Early Cretaceous, China.” The eastern nation is experiencing a golden age of paleontology, with exciting fossil discoveries scattered across the country.
Referencia: Wang, X. et al, The first dinosaurs from the Early Cretaceous Hami Pterosaur Fauna, China, Sci Rep (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-94273-7
