MADRID: Scientists in Spain have found fossils of a giant dinosaur believed to be Europe's largest ever. The fossils, found in Teruel in Spain, is that of a sauropod and scientists say this indicates that giant dinosaurs existed in Europe during the late Jurassic period, which is nearly 150 million years ago.
Researchers from the Fundacion Conjunto Paleontologico de Teruel-Dinopolis have found dozens of bone fossils of the dinosaur at the Barrihonda-El Humero site in the Riodeva village of Teruel. They have named the species as Turiasaurus riodevensis, after the Teruel area.
Turiasaurus is estimated to be 30 to 37 meters long and 40 and 48 tons in weight.
The findings are published in the journal Science.
The researchers believe the dinosaur represents a member of a formerly unrecognized group of primitive European eusauropod dinosaurs that evolved in the Jurassic. The fossils were found in terrestrial deposits in a 280 square meter section of the Villar del Arzobispo Formation (Upper Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous) that has also yielded isolated elements of other sauropods, theropod teeth, postcranial remains of stegosaurs as well as fish and turtles.
The new find will help the researchers to group several sauropod remains from Portugal, France, United Kingdom and other Spanish areas in a new branch of dinosaurs, which have been found to have more primitive limb and bone structures than other giant sauropods found other continents.
The humerus, or the long bone, in the foreleg of Turiasaurus that runs from the shoulder to the elbow, which was found as part of the fossil, was as large an adult human being. In addition to the humerus, the researchers also found pieces of skull, scapula, femur, tibia and fibula along with teeth, vertebrae, ribs and phalanges. The scientists say unlike the other long-necked sauropods, Turiasaurus riodevensis was an herbivore, even though it had fierce teeth.
The world's biggest recorded dinosaur is Argentinosaurus, a South American reptile twice as heavy as the Turiasaurus.
The discovery site had remains of theropod dinosaurs, Stegosaurus remnants, and fragments from fish and turtles.
