Turiasaurus (meaning "Turia lizard") is a genus of sauropod dinosaurs. It is known from a multiple fossil specimens representing the species Turiasaurus riodevensis, found in the Kimmeridgian Villar del Arzobispo Formation of Teruel, Spain.
Description
It is believed to be the largest dinosaur ever found in Europe, and is among the largest dinosaurs known. It was originally estimated at over , possibly around in length and with a weight of .Royo-Torres, R., Cobos, A., and Alcalá, L. (2006). "A Giant European Dinosaur and a New Sauropod Clade." Science 314: 1925-1927. More recent estimates suggest a length of in length, but a comparable weight of .Paul, G.S., 2010, The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs, Princeton University Press. The length of its skull is 70 centimetres, which is not too large. According to the paleontologist Luis Alcalá, this is because a larger head might have caused Turiasaurus to break its neck. Its femur was some in length.
Phylogenetic analysis shows that Turiasaurus lies outside of the Neosauropoda division and belongs to a new clade, Turiasauria, together with Losillasaurus and Galvesaurus.
History
Fragmentary remains of this animal, including an articulated left forelimb (holotype), skull fragments, teeth, vertebrae and ribs, have been found in terrestrial deposits of the Villar del Arzobispo Formation of Riodeva (Teruel Province, Spain). A forelimb from PortugalMateus, O. (2009). The sauropod Turiasaurus riodevensis in the Late Jurassic of Portugal. Journal of vertebrate Paleontology, 29. is now seen as Zby atlanticus.Octávio Mateus, Philip D. Mannion & Paul Upchurch (2014) Zby atlanticus, a new turiasaurian sauropod (Dinosauria, Eusauropoda) from the Late Jurassic of Portugal, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 34:3, 618-634, DOI: 10.1080/02724634.2013.822875 The type species, Turiasaurus riodevensis, was formally described by Royo-Torres, Cobos & Alcala, in 2006. In the early 2010s, excavations were made east of Madrid that uncovered the most complete fossil of such creatures in the whole world. The material referred to Turiasaurus comes from multiple individuals across multiple different localities.
References
External links BBC report on Turiasaurus Fact-Sheet with picture (in german) Fundación Conjunto Paleontológico de Teruel