Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.
A Giant Sauropod Dinosaur from an Upper Cretaceous Mangrove Deposit in Egypt
Joshua B. Smith,1*Matthew C. Lamanna,1Kenneth J. Lacovara,2Peter Dodson,13Jennifer
R. Smith,1Jason C. Poole,4Robert Giegengack,1Yousry Attia5
We describe a giant titanosaurid sauropod dinosaur
discovered in coastal deposits in the Upper Cretaceous Bahariya
Formationof Egypt, a unit that has produced three
Tyrannosaurus-sized theropodsand numerous other vertebrate
taxa. Paralititan stromeri is thefirst tetrapod
reported from Bahariya since 1935. Its 1.69-meter-longhumerus is longer than that of any known Cretaceous sauropod.The
autochthonous scavenged skeleton was preserved in mangrovedeposits,
raising the possibility that titanosaurids and theirpredators
habitually entered such environments.
1 Department of Earth and Environmental
Science, University of Pennsylvania, 240 South 33rd Street,
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6316, USA.
2 Engineering
Geology, Drexel University, 3141 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA
19104, USA.
3 Department of Animal Biology, School
of Veterinary Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, 3800 Spruce Street,
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6045, USA.
4 Academy of
Natural Sciences, 1900 Ben Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia, PA 19103, USA.
5 Egyptian Geological Museum, Egyptian
Geological Survey and Mining Authority, Athar El Nabi, Maadi, Cairo,
Egypt.
*
To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail:
smithjb{at}sas.upenn.edu
