| Paludititan | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Dorsal vertebra UBB NVM1-43 | |
Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | Saurischia |
| Clade: | †Sauropodomorpha |
| Clade: | †Sauropoda |
| Clade: | †Macronaria |
| Clade: | †Titanosauria |
| Clade: | †Eutitanosauria |
| Genus: | †Paludititan Csikiet al.,2010 |
| Species: | †P. nalatzensis |
| Binomial name | |
| †Paludititan nalatzensis Csikiet al., 2010 | |
Paludititan is agenus oftitanosauriansauropoddinosaur which lived in the area of presentRomania during the LateCretaceous. It existed in the island ecosystem known asHațeg Island.[1]
In 2002, a Belgian-Romanian expedition uncovered a sauropod skeleton in the bed of the riverRâul Mare, atNălațvad. It was at the time the most complete sauropod skeleton ever discovered in Romania. In2010, thetype speciesPaludititan nalatzensis was named and described by Zoltán Csiki, Vlad Codrea, Cătălin Jipa-Murzea andPascal Godefroit. The generic name is derived fromLatinpalus, "marsh" and GreekTitan. Thespecific name refers to its finding place Nălațvad.[1]
Theholotype,UBB NVM1, was found in theHațeg Basin, in a siltymudstone layer of theSânpetru Formation, dating from the earlyMaastrichtian. It consists of a partial skeleton lacking the skull. It contains three dorsal vertebrae, at least nine caudal vertebrae, twelvechevrons, the right half of the pelvis, a left ischium, the lower end of the right thighbone, and two toe claws. The remains were not found in articulation but in such close association that it is likely they represent a single individual.[1]
The describing authors ofPaludititan considered the possibility that the skeleton was a specimen ofMagyarosaurus dacus, a coeval titanosaurian sauropod sharing the same habitat. Overlapping remains were identical. On the other hand, they did not show any shared unique traits,synapomorphies, andM. dacus is known from a different location. They felt justified to name a separatetaxon, pending further discoveries.[1]
Paludititan was a relatively small sauropod, reaching 6 metres (20 ft) in length and 1 metric ton (1.1 short tons) in body mass.[2] The fossil remains show some unique features,autapomorphies, which demonstrate thatP. nalatzensis is a species distinct from comparable titanosaurians. In the rear vertebrae of the back, the top of thelamina centrodiapophysealis anterior, the front ridge on the underside of the lateral process, obliquely curving to the front and above runs parallel to the top of thelamina centrodiapophysealis posterior, the rear ridge, instead of touching it. In the vertebrae of the tail base and the first vertebrae of the middle tail, theneural spines, while being short and erect, possess a conspicuous corner on their front rim, projecting to the front. The peduncle of the ischium, touching the ilium, has a conspicuous triangular process at the outer upper rear, forming a buttress that overlaps the ischial pedicel of the ilium.[1] While vertebrae of the tail base and the first vertebrae of the middle tail are procoelous, thus with a concave front facet of the vertebral centre, some middle tail vertebrae more to the rear are amphiplatous, with flat front and rear facets; but they are again followed by procoelous middle tail vertebrae. When the species was described, the paleontologists are believed that this feature is autapomorphic forPaludititan, however, some vertebrae found in 2019 in the vicinity of a village calledValiora, found to certainly not belong toPaludititan, also show this feature, so it can no longer be considered as an autapomorphy ofPaludititan.[3]
Paludititan was placed in 2010 in theTitanosauria. More precisely, it was considered a probable member of theLithostrotia.Cladistic analysis suggested it was asister species of the South AmericanEpachthosaurus.[1] More recently Mochoet al. (2019) in a cladistic analysis, recoveredPaludititan within Lithostrotia as a sister species of the European speciesLohuecotitan.[4]
| Lithostrotia |
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In the same year, Gorscak & O'Connor (2019) in their description ofMnyamawamtuka recoveredPaludititan as a saltasaurid.[5]
Paludititan lived on the CretaceousHațeg Island with a diverse assemblage of animals, including otherisland dwarfs such as its relativeMagyarosaurus,[6] thehadrosauridTelmatosaurus and theiguanodontianZalmoxes. Other endemic dinosaurs include thenodosauridStruthiosaurus, several small, fragmentarymaniraptoransBradycneme,Elopteryx,Heptasteornis,[7] and theavialanBalaur.[8] The top predator of the island ecosystem was the giantazhdarchidpterosaurHatzegopteryx.[9]
