Baurutitan


Baurutitan is a genus of sauropod dinosaur that lived during the Late Cretaceous in what is now Brazil. The type species, Baurutitan britoi, was described in 2005 by Kellner and colleagues, although the fossil remains had already been discovered in 1957. Baurutitan is classified as a lithostrotian titanosaur, and is distinguished from related genera based on its distinctive caudal vertebrae. This South American dinosaur was found in the Marília Formation near Uberaba, in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais.

Discovery

The remains of Baurutitan were found in 1957 by Llewellyn Ivor Price, famous Brazilian paleontologist, in the region of Peirópolis, Minas Gerais. It was, however, not until 2005 that it was officially published and named. The works of Price in Peirópolis began in 1947 after Jesuíno Felicíssimo Junior, from the Instituto Geográfico e Geológico of São Paulo, told him about the presence of fossils in the region. Price then conducted excavations in an old quarry, known as Quarry Caieira, on the in São Luis farm. Recovered fossils included those of turtles, crocodylomorphs, theropods and sauropods, fish, freshwater invertebrates, trace fossils, fragments of eggs, and plant debris. Dynamite was occasionally used to remove materials embedded in the matrix. There were expeditions to Caieira between 1949 and 1961, after which fieldwork was not continued due to a lack of new relevant findings.
A series of 19 vertebrae found at this locality were recognized as belong to those of a titanosaur; they were initially named 'Series "C"', and subsequently became the holotype of the new genus Baurutitan. All material found was stored in the collection of Museu de Ciência da Terra of the Departamento Nacional de Produção Mineral in Rio de Janeiro.

Etymology

The name Baurutitan comes from the junction of the word "bauru", which alludes to the geographical region of the finding, within the Bauru Group, and the word "titan" of Greek myths. The specific name "britoi" is given in honor of Ignácio Aureliano Machado Brito, a Brazilian paleontologist who advised the study and description of this dinosaur, whose fossils have remained stored for many years.

Description

Baurutitan was a sauropod which was estimated to have measured long and had a height of around. The holotype specimen was found in the Marilia Formation, dating to the Maastrichtian epoch, some 72-66 million years ago. Baurutitan was the fourth sauropod described in Brazil, after Antarctosaurus, Gondwanatitan and Amazonsaurus.
A 2017 cladistic analysis by José Carballido and colleagues places Baurutitan as a member of Lithostrotia.