| Ninjatitan | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | Saurischia |
| Clade: | †Sauropodomorpha |
| Clade: | †Sauropoda |
| Clade: | †Macronaria |
| Clade: | †Titanosauria |
| Genus: | †Ninjatitan Gallina, Canale, & Carballido,2021 |
| Species: | †N. zapatai |
| Binomial name | |
| †Ninjatitan zapatai Gallina, Canale, & Carballido, 2021 | |
Ninjatitan (meaning "Ninja giant") is an exinct genus oftitanosauriansauropod dinosaur from theEarly Cretaceous (Berriasian–Valanginian age)Bajada Colorada Formation of Argentina. The genus contains asingle species,Ninjatitan zapatai, which was named and described in 2021 based on a partial postcranial skeleton discovered in 2014. Its generic name comes from "El Ninja", a nickname of Argentine palaeontologist Sebastian Apesteguia, and the specific name comes from technician Rogelio Zapata.[1][2]
When it was named in 2021,Ninjatitan was identified as the oldest titanosaur known, although subsequent research has cast doubt on this interpretation, as the RussianTengrisaurus is comparable in age and more conclusively titanosaurian.
Ninjatitan does not preserve any unanimous features that classify it as a somphospondylan, but it does bear features that suggest it can be included within the cladeTitanosauria, either as a basal taxon or possibly within the cladeColossosauria. The phylogenetic results of Gallina and colleagues are shown below, whereNinjatitan was suggested to have multiple possible positions.[1]
| Titanosauria |
| ||||||||||||
In 2025, Averianov and colleagues reassessed the phylogenetic relationships ofTengrisaurus and other early titanosaurs and allied taxa. They noted that the anterior caudal vertebrae ofNinjatitan have a largepleurocoels, uncharacteristic of titanosaurs but similar toTriunfosaurus, a non-titanosauriansomphospondylan from similarly-aged rock layers in Brazil. As such, the researchers concludedNinjatitan could not conclusively be assigned to the Titanosauria, and that it should likely be classified outside of this clade.[3]
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