Fossils of a 140-million-year-old Ninjatitan dinosaur found in Argentina

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Scientists have found fossils of what may be the oldest known member of the group of dinosaurs known as titanosaurs.

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The fossils represent a species of dinosaur called Ninjatitan zapatai that lived 140 million years ago during the Cretaceous period.

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The researchers said the Ninjatitan showed that titanosaurs as a group first appeared longer than previously known.

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The Ninjatitan had a length of about 20 meters, it was a large dinosaur, but much smaller than later titanosaurs, such as Argentinosaurus, which reached a length of approximately 35 meters.

(CNN) -

Scientists have unearthed fossils of what may be the oldest known member of the group of dinosaurs known as titanosaurs that includes the largest land animals in Earth's history.

Researchers said Monday that the fossils represent a species of dinosaur called Ninjatitan zapatai that lived 140 million years ago during the Cretaceous period.

They identified Ninjatitan as a titanosaur, a group of long-necked herbivorous dinosaurs that walked on four pillar-like legs.

Incomplete skeletal remains of the dinosaur were discovered in the Patagonian desert of Argentina, south of the city of Neuquén.

The researchers said the Ninjatitan showed that titanosaurs as a group first appeared longer than previously known.

"It is the oldest known record, not only in Argentina but in the world," lead study author Pablo Gallina, a researcher at the National Council for Scientific and Technical Research of Argentina (CONICET), told Reuters.

"Titanosaurs are recorded in various parts of the world, but the oldest known records were more modern than this find," added Gallina.

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At about 20 meters in length, the Ninjatitan was a large dinosaur, but much smaller than later titanosaurs, such as Argentinosaurus, which reached a length of approximately 35 meters.

The researchers also said that the presence of a titanosaur so early in Patagonia supports the idea that titanosaurs originated in the southern hemisphere.

The findings were published in the scientific journal Ameghiniana.

Titanosaurs are part of a larger group of dinosaurs called sauropods that includes others with similar body designs such as Brontosaurus and Diplodocus that lived in North America during the Jurassic period, which preceded the Cretaceous period.

Several of the titanosaurs that inhabited Patagonia reached gigantic proportions, such as Argentinosaurus, Patagotitan and Dreadnoughtus.

José Luis Carbadillo, another Conicet researcher, told a local university publication that the age of the Ninjatitan remains could have led people to assume that the bones belonged to a group of dinosaurs prior to titanosaurs.

"In Patagonia, titanosaurs have only been known for less than 120 million years," he said.

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