Uberabatitan
Uberabatitan (meaning "Uberaba titan", in reference to where it was found) is a genus of titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Brazil. It is known from bones including neck, back, and tail vertebrae, pelvic bones, and limb bones. These fossils were found in the uppermost portion of the Maastrichtian-age Serra da Galga Formation of the Bauru Group, in Uberaba, Minas Gerais. The type species, described by Salgado and Carvalho in 2008, is U. ribeiroi. To date, it is the most recent titanosaur from Bauru Group rocks; other titanosaurs from the Bauru Group, including Baurutitan and Trigonosaurus, come from lower (thus older) levels.[1]
| Uberabatitan Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, | |
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| Life restoration | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | Saurischia |
| Clade: | †Sauropodomorpha |
| Clade: | †Sauropoda |
| Clade: | †Macronaria |
| Clade: | †Titanosauria |
| Clade: | †Lithostrotia |
| Genus: | †Uberabatitan Salgado and Carvalho, 2008 |
| Type species | |
| †Uberabatitan ribeiroi Salgado and Carvalho, 2008 | |
Fossil record
Fossils of Uberabatitan ribeiroi have been found in the Serra da Galga Formation[lower-alpha 1] in Minas Gerais, Brazil. All the specimens attributed to U. ribeiroi were found in a single quarry, and have been accessioned at the Centro de Pesquisas Paleontológicas Llewellyn Ivor Price (CPPLIP) at the Federal University of Triângulo Mineiro. More than sixty bones have been found, representing the intermingled remains of at least five individuals of various sizes.[2] These remains include cervical, dorsal, sacral, and caudal vertebrae, chevrons, and portions of the shoulders, hips, and limbs. As is commonly the case in titanosaurs, the skull is not known. The holotype consists of the tibia (CPPLIP-912), fibula (CPPLIP-1107), and astragalus (CPPLIP-1082) of a single individual; other elements had initially been included in the holotype as well, but were excluded due to the lack of evidence that they came from the same individual.[2] Another specimen from the Serra da Galga Formation, MCT 1487-R, also known as "DGM Series A", exhibits close similarities to Uberabatitan and may belong to it, or at least a close relative.[2] MCT 1487-R consists of a nearly complete neck, one of the few known for any titanosaur.[4] Two teeth found at the Uberabatitan site, and others found elsewhere in the Serra da Galga Formation, may also belong to Uberabatitan ribeiroi; one of these teeth, CPPLIP-1166, is the largest titanosaur tooth ever found, with a crown 6.2 centimetres (2.4 in) high from its base to its apex.[5]
Discovery and naming
Uberabatitan ribeiroi was named by Leonardo Salgado and Ismar de Souza Carvalho in 2008,[1] based on specimens found at a road cut along Federal Highway BR-050[6] in Uberaba, Minas Gerais. The genus name refers to Uberaba and the species name honors Luiz Carlos Borges Ribeiro, the director of the Centro de Pesquisas Paleontológicas Lewellyn Price, for his support.[1]
Description
As a sauropod, Uberabatitan would have been a large, quadrupedal herbivore with a long neck.[7] It has been estimated that Uberabatitan ribeiroi could reach a length of 26 metres (85 ft), although most known specimens are of much smaller individuals.[2]
Classification
A 2019 redescription of assigned and new material from the same locality places Uberabatitan as a non-saltasaurid lithostrotian with an upper body size estimate for large individuals at 26 meters.[2]
| Titanosauria |
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Notes
- Uberabatitan ribeiroi was previously reported as being known from the Serra da Galga Member of the Marília Formation,[2] but these strata are now recognized as distinct from the Marília Formation.[3]
References
- Salgado, Leonardo; and Carvalho; Ismar de Souza (2008). "Uberabatitan ribeiroi, a new titanosaur from the Marília Formation (Bauru Group, Upper Cretaceous), Minas Gerais, Brazil". Palaeontology. 51 (4): 881–901. doi:10.1111/j.1475-4983.2008.00781.x.
- Silva, J.C.G. Jr.; Marinho, T.S.; Martinelli, A.G.; Langer, M.C. (2019). "Osteology and systematics of Uberabatitan ribeiroi (Dinosauria; Sauropoda): a Late Cretaceous titanosaur from Minas Gerais, Brazil". Zootaxa. 4577 (3): 401–438. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4577.3.1.
- Soares, Marcus Vinícius Theodoro; Basilici, Giorgio; Silva Marinho, Thiago; Martinelli, Agustín Guillermo; Marconato, André; Mountney, Nigel Philip; Colombera, Luca; Mesquita, Áquila Ferreira; Vasques, Julia Tucker; Junior, Francisco Romero Abrantes; Ribeiro, Luiz Carlos Borges (2021). "Sedimentology of a distributive fluvial system: The Serra da Galga Formation, a new lithostratigraphic unit (Upper Cretaceous, Bauru Basin, Brazil)". Geological Journal. 56 (2): 951–975. doi:10.1002/gj.3987. eISSN 1099-1034. ISSN 0072-1050.
- Taylor, Michael P. (2022-01-24). "Almost all known sauropod necks are incomplete and distorted". PeerJ. 10. doi:10.7717/peerj.12810. ISSN 2167-8359. PMC 8793732.
- Silva Junior, Julian C.G.; Marinho, Thiago S.; Martinelli, Agustín G.; Ribeiro, Luiz C.B.; Langer, Max C. (2023-07-16). "The largest known titanosaur (Dinosauria, Sauropoda) tooth and other isolated dental elements from the Serra da Galga Formation (Cretaceous of Southeast Brazil)". Cretaceous Research: 105656. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2023.105656. ISSN 0195-6671.
- Martinelli, Agustín G.; Teixeira, Vicente P. A.; Marinho, Thiago S.; Fonseca, Pedro H. M.; Cavellani, Camila L.; Araujo, Adauto J. G.; Ribeiro, Luiz C. B.; Ferraz, Mara L. F. (2014). "Fused mid-caudal vertebrae in the titanosaur Uberabatitan ribeiroi from the Late Cretaceous of Brazil and other bone lesions". Lethaia. 48 (4): 456–462. doi:10.1111/let.12117. ISSN 0024-1164.
- Upchurch, Paul; Barrett, Paul M.; Dodson, Peter. (2004). "Sauropoda". In Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; Osmólska, Halszka. (eds.). The Dinosauria (2nd ed.). Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 259–322. ISBN 0-520-24209-2.
