Angolatitan
Angolatitan Temporal range: Late Cretaceous,
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Clade: | Dinosauria |
Clade: | Saurischia |
Clade: | †Sauropodomorpha |
Clade: | †Sauropoda |
Clade: | †Macronaria |
Clade: | †Somphospondyli |
Genus: | †Angolatitan Mateus et al., 2011 |
Type species | |
Angolatitan adamastor |
Angolatitan (meaning "Angolan giant") is a
Discovery and naming
After the
Angolatitan was described by Octávio Mateus and colleagues in 2011. The generic name means "Angolan giant". The specific name is derived from Adamastor, a mythological sea monster that represented the dangers Portuguese sailors faced in the southern Atlantic.[1] Until 1975, Angola was a Portuguese colony.
Description
The only specimen is a partial right forelimb, including
The upper arm bone measures 110 centimetres (43 in), the ulna 69 centimetres (27 in) in length. In general, the forelimb was less robust than in most of the more derived titanosaurs. The metacarpals were slender and equal in length; those of titanosaurs were more robust with varying lengths. Unlike titanosaurs, the olecranon was absent, and the first metacarpal was not bowed.[1]
Classification
Angolatitan was a basal titanosauriform, more derived than Brachiosaurus but less derived than Euhelopus and Titanosauria, which is notable given its relatively late appearance in the sauropod fossil record.
Recent phylogenetic tests run by Gorsack and Connor (2017) recover Angolatitan as a non-
Palaeoecology
The specimen was found in a 50 m thick subsection of the Itombe Formation called the Tadi Beds. The Itombe Formation was considered Turonian in age, but new data suggests that it dates to the Coniacian.[3] These rocks were deposited under marginary marine conditions; fossils include ammonites, echinoderms, and fishes (including sharks). Tetrapods include the turtle Angolachelys mbaxi, the mosasaurs Angolasaurus bocagei and Tylosaurus iembeensis, and several plesiosaur fossils.[1]
The ecosystem inhabited by Angolatitan would have been desert-like. Presumably, this sauropod would have been well adapted to very dry conditions, similar to extant desert elephants.[1]