Australian paleontologists have announced the identification of a dinosaur fossil discovered in a remote area of the country as a new species.
Experts have discovered a new dinosaur species that once roamed Australia, Australotitan cooperensis. (Photo: nydailynews.com).
The new dinosaur species has been named “Australotitan cooperensis”, 15 years after fossil samples were found in the Cooper Creek area of southwestern Queensland. Australotitan belongs to the titanosaur family, a group of herbivorous dinosaurs with small heads and massive bodies that existed around 100 million years ago.
Dubbed the “Southern Giant”, Australotitan is believed to be the largest dinosaur in Australia, standing 5 to 6.5 meters tall and measuring 25 to 30 meters in length. Robyn Mackenzie, director of the Eromanga Natural History Museum, stated that paleontologists estimate this new titanosaur dinosaur is among the five largest dinosaurs in the world.
The research team from the Queensland Museum and the Eromanga Natural History Museum used 3D technology to create a scan of Australotitan’s skeleton, then compared its bones to those of its closest “relatives.” The results showed that Australotitan is closely related to three other theropod dinosaurs that lived during the Cretaceous period, including Diamantinasaurus, Savannasaurus, and Wintonotitan.
Dr. Scott Hocknull, a paleontologist at the Queensland Museum, stated: ‘We found that Australotitan is the largest, followed by Wintonotitan with its large hips and long legs, while the two smaller theropods, Diamantinasaurus and Savannasaurus, were shorter and stockier.‘ Dr. Hocknull also mentioned that many other dinosaur skeletons have been discovered in the same area, and the research team needs to continue their work as these findings are just the “tip of the iceberg.”
