| Soriatitan | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Life restoration ofSoriatitan golmayensis | |
Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | Saurischia |
| Clade: | †Sauropodomorpha |
| Clade: | †Sauropoda |
| Clade: | †Macronaria |
| Family: | †Brachiosauridae |
| Genus: | †Soriatitan Royo-Torreset al., 2017 |
| Type species | |
| †Soriatitan golmayensis Royo-Torreset al., 2017 | |
Soriatitan ("Soria titan") is a genus ofbrachiosauridsauropod from the Early Cretaceous ofSpain. It is known from one species,S. golmayensis, found in theGolmayo Formation.[1] It lived between 130 and 125 million years ago, and was identified by a team of paleontologists in Spain.
The only known specimen ofSoriatitan,S. golmayensis, was discovered in theGolmayo Formation (upper Hauterivian–lower Barremian) inSoria province,Spain.[1] The material was found in the Zorralbo 1 deposit located in the vicinity of the population ofGolmayo. Excavation began in 2000 by a team of paleontologists from the province of Soria, and preparation began in 2009, aided by theDinópolis Foundation.[2]
The known material ofS. golmayensis (MNS 2001/122) consists of one tooth, three dorsal vertebrae with ribs, a partial sacrum, five caudal centra, two caudal vertebral spines, one chevron, a humerus, an ulna, a radius, two partial ilia, two ischia, a fragment of a pubis, and a partial femur. It is estimated to have been 43–46 feet long (13–14 meters) and had an estimated weight of about 8 tons.[citation needed]
Cladistic analysis has identified the known material as belonging toBrachiosauridae withinTitanosauriformes. The known material shares similar characteristics with both European and North American brachiosaurids. It has similar anteriorly deflected anterior–middle caudal neural spines toCedarosaurus,Tastavinsaurus, andVenenosaurus, and a proximodistally straight lateral margin between the proximal head and the humerus shaft withCedarosaurus.[1] The specimen was an adult with small 0.7 inch (18mm) teeth that indicates it was, like all other sauropods, a grazer. Fossilized remains of plants that lived at the same time as Soriatitan indicate that it lived in a subtropical climate in a landscape dominated by conifer trees, which would have been its main food source.
The discovery ofS. golmayensis, indicates that there was a presence ofEarly Cretaceous brachiosaurids in bothNorth America andEurope, supporting the hypothesis of a connection between thetectonic plates of these continents at some point during the Early Cretaceous.[1]S. golmayensis is the only known brachiosaurid described from the Early Cretaceous of Europe. Until this discovery, it was thought that brachiosaurids had become extinct in Europe around 130 million years ago.[3]
The dictionary definition ofSoriatitan at Wiktionary
Media related toSoriatitan at Wikimedia Commons
