Paleobiology of South American titanosaurs

GONZÁLEZ RIGA, BERNARDO J.

Paleontología y dinosaurios desde América Latina

EDIUNC, Editorial de la Universidad Nacional de Cuyo

Lugar: Mendoza; Año: 2010; p. 125 - 141

The sauropod clade Titanosauria is one of the most diverse and interesting dinosaur groups. Their fossils show an amazing size range, and some of them, were the largest animals ever to walk the Earth. Titanosaurs like Argentinosaurus, Futalognkosaurus, and Puertasaurus surpassed lengths of 30m and masses of 70 tons. Titanosaurs exhibit a worldwide distribution useful for paleobiogeographic studies. They were important terrestrial herbivores during the Jurassic and specially the Cretaceous periods, and their remains have been recovered from all continents except Antarctica. Moreover, their fossil record is important for studying the composition of dinosaur faunas near the mass extinction at the K-T boundary. Another interesting aspect of titanosaurs is their extraordinary diversity, similar to that of the Late Cretaceous North American hadrosaurids. At the time of this writing, more than 48 titanosaur species have been discovered, around one third of all known sauropods. In this context, phylogenetic studies of titanosaurs are important as a basis for further evolutionary and paleobiogeographic interpretations. Likewise, locomotion and growth strategies are topics of great interest.