18. Abditosaurus, the flood

#Abditosaurus, a #sauropod #dinosaur described in 2022 from the most complete European titanosaur skeleton found so far. Its name, meaning "forgotten reptile", references the fact that its remains were partially excavated in the 1950s before being left for decades when funding was lost.

And I already have the last great Iberian titanosaur, Lohuecotitan and Qunkasaura are now joined by Abditosaurus, a large sauropod, one of the last dinos described in Spain, but which could have been the first, since its remains were found in the 50s!

#Paleoart

The first rays of sun illuminate the disasters caused by a great storm, revealing the drowned corpses of two Abditosaurus, which float adrift in the Tethys Sea after being swept away by a flood

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Muy contento con mi ilustración para presentar a Abditosaurus, un gran saurópodo descrito hace tres años en España a partir de un esqueleto descubierto en los años 50 (si, LA CENCIA avanza rápido en españita)

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The interesting thing about this species Abditosaurus kuehnei is the mismatch between its immense size and its location in the Pyrenees.
www.iflscience.com/gigantic-din...

Quick sketch for #dinovember2023 day 4: Abditosaurus kuehnei.

18. Los cadáveres de dos abditosaurus flotan a la deriva en el mar de tetis después de ser arrastrados por una riada

#Abditosaurus ("The forgotten lizard") of Spain earned its title from the 60 years it took to name the dinosaur after its first remains were found. It roamed what was then an island encompassing Spain, Portugal, and part of France during the late Cretaceous.

#PaleoArt by Bernardo González Riga

Abditosaurus is one of the last dinosaurs described in the Iberian Peninsula, but ironically it could have been the first dinosaur described in Spain, since its first remains were found and unearthed in 1954

Happy #FossilFriday from the newly named (published last week) titanosaur Qunkasaura! The figures and pictures below by Mocho et al show what is known of this one individual in red. It and its sister taxa Abditosaurus likely represent an immigration of longnecks into Spain in the late Cretaceous.

The site was closed and was not excavated again until 1984, yielding more fossils, to be closed again until 2012, when it was definitively excavated and new bones and those left by previous campaigns were extracted. Hence the name Abditosaurus or "forgotten reptile"

After 60 years, the result of so much coming and going is one of the most complete skeletons of a sauropod found in Europe, with complete vertebral series included. And the surprises did not end here, since Abditosaurus is also very large, especially for the island environment where have lived

~70my ago, sea levels dropped, reconnecting landmasses that had long been separate. Just like Alamosaurus invaded N.America from the South around the same time, Abditosaurus crossed a new land bridge from Africa to expand into Iberia - where it was significantly larger than its endemic competition.

It seems to be a Titanosaur from the Saltasauridae clade (more exclusive to South America and Africa, which makes it unrelated to the rest of European Titanosaurs). It could indicate that Abditosaurus could have been a recent acquisition in the fauna of that area, a "newcomer" from the South.