BUENOS AIRES, May 18 (Reuters) – Argentine paleontologists have discovered the remains of a gigantic new species of long-necked herbivorous dinosaur in the country’s southern Patagonia region, saying the animal is one of the largest ever discovered.
The find in the Pueblo Blanco Nature Reserve, presented Thursday, was first discovered by scientists in 2018. The dinosaur bones were so large that the van transporting them to a Buenos Aires laboratory tipped over, even though no wounded and the remains were left intact.
Paleontologist Nicolas Chimento said scientists decided to name the dinosaur “Chucarosaurus Diripienda”, meaning hard-boiled and scrambled, because it rolled over and survived the accident.
At 50 tons and 30 meters long, Chucarosaurus is the largest dinosaur discovered in the mountainous province of Rio Negro. It would have lived in the Late Cretaceous period with predators, fish and turtles.
[1/2] A bone belonging to a “Chucarosaurus Diripienda”, a newly discovered giant species of long-necked herbivorous dinosaur, is pictured next to a shovel, at the Pueblo Blanco Nature Reserve, in Rio Negro, Argentina October 16, 2019. Nicolas Chimento /Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales/Handout via REUTERS
The Chucarosaurus’ femur bone, which was 1.90 meters long, was broken into three parts, each weighing more than 100 kilograms and requiring at least three people to lift it, scientists said.
Patagonia is home to the world’s largest plant-eating dinosaurs such as the colossal Patagotitan mayorum, the largest dinosaur ever discovered, though scientists still don’t know why the species grew so quickly there and in some cases did not stop growing throughout their lives.
Paleontologist Matias Motta says that while Chucarosaurus, a sauropod, rivaled other Patagonian giants in size and weight, features in its hips, forelimbs and hindlimbs suggest it was leaner and more graceful.
140 dinosaur species have been discovered in Argentina, which is among the top three countries in the world for research and discovery along with China and the United States.
The studies were conducted by researchers from the Bernardino Rivadavia Museum of Natural Sciences, the Azara Foundation and the national research council Conicet with support from the National Geographic Society.
Reporting by Lucila Sigal; Writing by Sarah Morland; Editing by David Gregorio
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