Cristina Hodgson
RESEARCHERS working in Teruel, Spain, have discovered new fossil remains of a giant dinosaur.
Excavations by the Teruel Dinopolis United Paleontological Foundation at the El Carrillejo site in the municipality of Riodeva have unearthed new fossils of a large diplodocid sauropod dinosaur.
The unearthed fossils found are from the Upper Jurassic deposits, about 150 million years old, with characteristics very different from those of other sauropods of the same geological age found in Teruel, such as the European giant Turiasaurus or the first dinosaur described in Spain, Aragosaurus.
These dinosaurs are characterised by having a small head relative to body size (and femur length); and longer necks than other saurischians.
So far, several tail vertebrae and other fossils of the anterior part of the dinosaur’s tail have been excavated.
According to the managing director of the Dinopolis Foundation and co-director of the excavations, Alberto Cobos, the discovery is one of the most important of this type discovered in the Jurassic of Europe.
“For the moment, and in spite of the fragmentary nature of the remains in relation to the whole animal, this sauropod from Riodeva is one of the most relevant dinosaurs of this type discovered in the Jurassic of Europe, together with other diplodocid fossils previously excavated by the Foundation in the Teruel municipality of El Castellar” Cobos said.
The dimensions of the fossils excavated at Riodeva suggests a total length of the dinosaurof approximately 25 meters.
This data will be confirmed as excavations continue at the Dinopolis Foundation sites in Teruel.
The first paleontological operation at the El Carrillejo site was carried out in 2006, when researchers working in Teruel discovered the fossil remains of a giant dinosaur that weighed between 40 to 48 tons and was 30-37 meters long, making it the largest dinosaur ever found in Europe — most giant dinosaurs have been found previously in the New World and Africa.
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