New ‘Giant’ Species of Long-Necked Dinosaur Discovered in Spain #fossil #paleontology #dinosaur #sauropod #spain

Paleontologists unearthed the fossilized remains of three individuals, including a pair of nearly complete feet. GBE-UNED

Smithsonian Magazine has a story about the discovery of a new sauropod dinosaur.  The dinosaur, Garumbatitan morellensis, lived about 122 million years ago, which is the Cretaceous Period.  The specimen was found near Morella in eastern Spain, which is part of the species name.  The new animal was described in the journal Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.

A team of Spanish and Portuguese paleontologists uncovered G. morellensis’ remains while working at the Sant Antoni de la Vespa fossil site between 2005 and 2008.

The region, which is located near the city of Morella in eastern Spain, has produced numerous dinosaur fossils. But researchers say many more remain buried, and further excavations could help reveal even more about its past.

“Here in this region, we say that ‘tota pedra fa paret’—every stone makes a wall—and this stone is helping to build the paleontological wall, because it is big,” says study co-author José Miguel Gasulla, a paleontologist at Spain’s National University of Distance Education (UNED), to El País’ María Pitarch.

They discovered vertebrae, leg bones and foot bones, which they believe belonged to at least three separate G. morellensis individuals. These sets of remains likely date to the Early Cretaceous period, which spanned roughly 145 million to 100.5 million years ago.