Futalognkosaurus

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Futalognkosaurus
Fossil range: Late Cretaceous

Artist's restoration of Futalognkosaurus

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Sauropsida
Superorder:	Dinosauria
Order:	Saurischia
Suborder:	Sauropodomorpha
(unranked)	Titanosauria
Genus:	Futalognkosaurus Calvo, Porfiri, González-Riga, & Kellner, 2007

Species

F. dukei Calvo et al., 2007 (type)

Futalognkosaurus (meaning "giant chief lizard") is a genus of titanosaurian dinosaur. Its fossils were found in the Neuquén province of Argentina in 2000, and were scientifically described in 2007. The genus name is derived from the local indigenous language Mapudungun and is pronounced foo-ta-long-koh-sohr-us: "futa" means "giant" and "lognko" means "chief".^[1] The type species, Futalognkosaurus dukei, is estimated to be between 32 and 34 meters (105-111 ft) in length. It is based on three fossil specimens, yielding an estimated 70% of the skeleton in total. The fossil team described the find as "the most complete giant dinosaur known so far". The herbivorous^[2] Futalognkosaurus lived approximately 87 million years ago in the Coniacian stage of the late Cretaceous Period. The fish and leaf fossilised debris on the site, together with other dinosaur remains, suggest a tropical climate in Patagonia during this period.

In their phylogenetic analysis, Calvo and colleagues found Futalognkosaurus to be a member of the Titanosauridae (or Lithostrotia, depending on the definitions being used), and most closely related to Mendozasaurus. They defined a new clade for the group containing both Futalognkosaurus and Mendozasaurus, their common ancestor, and all descendants, which they named the Lognkosauria.^[1] The authors found Malawisaurus to be the sister group of this new clade. Besides Futalognkosaurus other fauna was discovered in the Futalognko site, including two further undescribed sauropod taxa, specimens of Megaraptor, Unenlagia and some pleurodiran turtles.

The alternate early spelling "Futalongkosaurus" may be found in some press reports and on websites.

[edit] References

^ ^a ^b Calvo, J.O., Porfiri, J.D., González-Riga, B.J., and Kellner, A.W. (2007) "A new Cretaceous terrestrial ecosystem from Gondwana with the description of a new sauropod dinosaur". Anais Academia Brasileira Ciencia, 79(3): 529-41.[1]
^ Pellim, Roberto. "Nieuwe dinosoort", Metro, 2007-10-19, pp. 7. Retrieved on 2007-10-19. (Dutch)