Paralititan

File:Paralititan stromeri by Hatem Moushir 3.JPG

Joshua Smith in 1999 in the Bahariya Oasis rediscovered the Gebel el Dist site where Richard Markgraf in 1912, 1913 and 1914 had excavated fossils for Ernst Stromer. In 2000, an American expedition was mounted to revisit the site. However, apparently Markgraf had already removed all more complete skeletons, leaving only limited remains behind. At a new site, the nearby Gebel Fagga, the expedition succeeded in locating a partial sauropod skeleton.Nothdurft, William; Joshua Smith; Matt Lamana; Ken Lacovara; Jason Poole & Jen Smith, 2002, The Lost Dinosaurs of Egypt: The Astonishing and Unlikely True Story of One of the Twentieth Century's Greatest Paleontological Discoveries, Random House, 272 pp It was identified by Lacovara as a species new to science. It was named and described by Joshua B. Smith, Matthew C. Lamanna, Kenneth J. Lacovara, Peter Dodson, Jennifer R. Smith, Jason Charles Poole, Robert Giegengack and Yousri Attia in 2001 as the type species Paralititan stromeri. The generic name means "Stromer's tidal (Greek para + halos "near sea") titan" or "Stromer's tidal giant", in reference to the "paralic" tidal flats the animal lived on.{{cite web |url= https://paleobiodb.org/classic/checkTaxonInfo?taxon_no=64374 |title= Paralititan Stromeri |publisher= Paleobiology Database |access-date= December 31, 2012 |archive-date= June 16, 2020 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200616134533/http://fossilworks.org/bridge.pl?taxon_no=64374&action=taxonInfo |url-status= live }} The specific name honors Ernst Stromer von Reichenbach, a German paleontologist and geologist who first established the presence of dinosaur fossils in this area in 1911. Paralititan represents the first tetrapod reported from the Bahariya Formation since Romer's publication of 1935.

The holotype specimen of Paralititan, CGM 81119, was found in a layer of the Bahariya Formation, dating from the Cenomanian. It consists of a partial skeleton lacking the skull. It is incomplete, apart from bone fragments containing two fused posterior sacral vertebrae, two anterior caudal vertebrae, both incomplete scapulae, two humeri and a metacarpal. The Paralititan type specimen shows evidence of having been scavenged by a carnivorous dinosaur as it was disarticulated within an oval of eight metres length with the various bones being clustered. A Carcharodontosaurus tooth was discovered in between the clusters. The holotype is part of the collection of the Cairo Geological Museum.

The large anterior dorsal vertebra 1912V11164, in 1932 by Stromer referred to an undetermined "Giant Sauropod", was in 2001 tentatively referred to Paralititan.

File:Paralititan-Scale-Diagram-SVG-Steveoc86.svg

Joshua Smith, who informally led the research team that found the dinosaur fossils, told an interviewer, "It was a truly enormous dinosaur by any reckoning."{{cite journal|last=Roach|first=John|date=May 31, 2001|title='Tidal Giant' Roamed Coastal Swamps of Ancient Africa|url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2001/05/0531_tidaldinosaur.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010605022420/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2001/05/0531_tidaldinosaur.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 5, 2001|journal=National Geographic News|location=Washington, D.C.|publisher=National Geographic Society|access-date=December 31, 2012}}

File:Paralititan stromeri.jpg]]

Little of Paralititan is known, so its exact size is difficult to estimate. However, the limited material, especially the long humeri, suggested that it is one of the most massive dinosaurs ever discovered, with an estimated weight of {{convert|59|MT|ST|abbr=on}}.Burness, G.P. and Flannery, T. (2001). "Dinosaurs, Dragonslayer, and Dwarfs: The Evolution of Maximal Body Size." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 98(25): 14518-14523. The complete right humerus measured {{convert|1.69|m|ft|abbr=off|sp=us}} long which at the time of discovery was the longest known in a Cretaceous sauropod; this was surpassed in 2016 with the discovery of Notocolossus which had a {{convert|1.76|m|ftin|abbr=on}} humerus.{{cite journal | vauthors = González Riga BJ, Lamanna MC, Ortiz David LD, Calvo JO, Coria JP | title = A gigantic new dinosaur from Argentina and the evolution of the sauropod hind foot | language = En | journal = Scientific Reports | volume = 6 | issue = 1 | pages = 19165 | date = January 2016 | pmid = 26777391 | pmc = 4725985 | doi = 10.1038/srep19165 | bibcode = 2016NatSR...619165G }} Using Saltasaurus as a guide, Carpenter estimated its length at around {{convert|26|m|ft|abbr=on}} in 2006.{{cite journal|vauthors=Carpenter K|year=2006|title=Biggest of the Big: a Critical Re-evaluation of the Mega-sauropod Amphicoelias fragillimus Paleontology and Geology of the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation|url=http://www.gardenparkdinos.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Biggest_of_the_big.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160308031222/http://www.gardenparkdinos.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Biggest_of_the_big.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=March 8, 2016|journal=New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin|volume=36|pages=131–138|veditors=Foster JR, Lucas SG}}

Scott Hartman estimates an animal that is massive, but still smaller than the biggest titanosaurs such as Puertasaurus, Alamosaurus, and Argentinosaurus.{{ cite web | url = http://www.skeletaldrawing.com/home/2013/06/the-biggest-of-big.html?rq | title = The biggest of the big | first = Scott | last = Hartman | work = Skeletal Drawings }} In 2010, Gregory S. Paul estimated its length at 20+ meters (66+ ft), and its weight at 20 tonnes (24.2 short tons).Paul, G.S., 2010, The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs, Princeton University Press p. 209 In 2012 Holtz gave a length of {{convert|32|m|ft|abbr=off|sp=us}} and an estimated weight of 65.3–72.5 tonnes (72–80 short tons). In 2016, using equations that estimate body mass based on the circumference of the humerus and femur of quadrupedal animals, it was given an estimated weight of ~{{convert|50|MT|ST|abbr=on}}. In 2019 Gregory S. Paul estimated Paralititan between 30 and 55 tonnes (33–60.6 short tons).{{Cite journal|last=Paul|first=Gregory S.|date=2019|title=Determining the largest known land animal: A critical comparison of differing methods for restoring the volume and mass of extinct animals|url=http://www.gspauldino.com/Titanomass.pdf|journal=Annals of the Carnegie Museum|volume=85|issue=4|pages=335–358|doi=10.2992/007.085.0403|bibcode=2019AnCM...85..335P |s2cid=210840060}} In 2020 Molina-Perez and Larramendi estimated the size of the animal at {{convert|27|m|ft|abbr=off|sp=us}} and 30 tonnes (33 short tons).{{Cite book|last=Molina-Perez & Larramendi|title=Dinosaur Facts and Figures: The Sauropods and Other Sauropodomorphs|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=2020|location=New Jersey|pages=267|bibcode=2020dffs.book.....M }}

From the formation another sauropod had already been known, Aegyptosaurus. Paralititan differs from Aegyptosaurus in its larger size, the latter genus weighing only fifteen tons, possibly in not having pleurocoels in its front tail vertebrae, and in possessing a relatively longer deltopectoral crest on its humerus.

File:Bahariya Formation McAfee.jpg]]

The autochthonous, scavenged skeleton was preserved in tidal flat deposits containing in the form of fossil leaves and root systems, a mangrove vegetation of seed ferns, Weichselia reticulata. The mangrove ecosystem it inhabited was situated along the southern shore of the Tethys Sea. Paralititan is the first dinosaur demonstrated to have inhabited a mangrove habitat. It lived at approximately the same time and place as giant predators Tameryraptor (formerly assigned to Carcharodontosaurus),{{Cite journal |last1=Kellermann |first1=Maximilian |last2=Cuesta |first2=Elena |last3=Rauhut |first3=Oliver W. M. |date=January 14, 2025 |editor-last=Spekker |editor-first=Olga |title=Re-evaluation of the Bahariya Formation carcharodontosaurid (Dinosauria: Theropoda) and its implications for allosauroid phylogeny |journal=PLOS ONE |language=en |volume=20 |issue=1 |pages=e0311096 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0311096 |doi-access=free |pmid=39808629 |issn=1932-6203|pmc=11731741 |bibcode=2025PLoSO..2011096K }} Spinosaurus and the sauropod Aegyptosaurus.

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{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.nhm.ac.uk/jdsml/nature-online/dino-directory/detail.dsml?Genus=Paralititan Paralititan in the Dino Directory]

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Category:Titanosauria

Category:Dinosaur genera

Category:Cenomanian dinosaurs

Category:Bahariya Formation

Category:Taxa named by Matt Lamanna

Category:Taxa named by Kenneth Lacovara

Category:Taxa named by Peter Dodson

Category:Fossil taxa described in 2001

Category:Dinosaurs of Egypt