Saturday, January 30, 2016

The New Year of January. Angolatitan

The naming of Angolatitan was a very important discovery for the country of Angola because it was the first genus of dinosaur known to have come from there.‭ ‬Angolatitan is so far known only from a partial right fore limb,‭ ‬so details like size or a specific dietary preference beyond just plants are impossible to establish with certainty.‭ ‬What is known though is that Angolatitan was a titanosaur,‭ ‬a kind of advanced sauropod that‭ ‬was common during the Cretaceous.‭ ‬A possible feature known in some titanosaurs such as Saltasaurus is the presence of bony osteoderm armour in the skin,‭ ‬but it is unknown if Angolatitan had armour.‭ ‬The fore limb however is enough to identify Angolatitan as a member of the Somphospondyli,‭ ‬meaning that it was probably most similar to genera along the lines of Sauroposeidon,‭ ‬Argentinosaurus,‭ ‬Astrophocaudia and Wintonotitan to name just a few examples.
       One interesting thing to note is that the fossil formation that Angolatitan is known to have a very high occurrence of marine organisms from fish and ammonites to even marine reptiles such as plesiosaurs,‭ ‬mosasaurs like Angolasaurus and Tylosaurus and even turtles such as Angolachelys.‭ ‬This could indicate that the holotype remains of Angolatitan were from an individual that was swept out to sea.

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