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Meet the Massive Australotitan, the “Southern Titan” – Australia’s Largest Dinosaur! - SciTechDaily

Meet the Massive Australotitan, the “Southern Titan” – Australia’s Largest Dinosaur! - SciTechDaily

Meet the Massive Australotitan, the “Southern Titan” – Australia’s Largest Dinosaur! - SciTechDaily
Jun 11, 2021 1 min, 46 secs

By Queensland Museum.

June 11, 2021.

Australotitan cooperensis, “Southern Titan of the Cooper.” Credit: Vlad Konstantinov, Scott Hocknull ©Eromanga Natural History Museum.

It is time to meet Australotitan cooperensis, a new species of giant sauropod from Eromanga in southwest Queensland. Australotitan, the “Southern Titan of the Cooper,” named from where it was found, has been scientifically described by paleontologists and staff at Queensland Museum and the Eromanga Natural History Museum.

The fossilized skeleton was originally nicknamed ‘Cooper’ after the nearby Cooper Creek where it was first discovered by the Mackenzie property owners and excavated with Queensland Museum in 2007.

Finding ‘Cooper’ has changed the lives of the Mackenzie family and has led to the establishment of the Eromanga Natural History Museum.

Sandy Mackenzie (left) with parents Stuart and Robyn Mackenzie excavating a thigh bone of Cooper during the 2007 dinosaur dig!

The team excavate the pelvis of ‘Cooper’ on the 2007 dinosaur dig.

Australotitan belonged to a group of dinosaurs known as the titanosaurians, which were the last surviving group of long-necked sauropods and the largest known land-dwelling animals to have ever existed. Australotitan is now the largest known dinosaur species from Australia, making it the largest land animal to have ever walked in outback Queensland and sits within the top 10 to 15 largest dinosaurs in the world.

The team with the jacketed femur of ‘Cooper’ on the 2007 dinosaur dig.

The scientific publication marks a seventeen-year long culmination of the joint effort between Queensland Museum and Eromanga Natural History Museum paleontologists, geologists, fossil preparators, and most importantly volunteers. Australotitan adds to the growing list of uniquely Australian dinosaur species discovered in outback Queensland, and just as importantly showcases a totally new area for dinosaur discovery in Australia.

Left to right, Tanya, Rochelle and Natalia preparing the fossil humerus of ‘Cooper’ at the Eromanga Natural History Museum.

Australotitan cooperensis next to the 2021 dinosaur dig site!

Scott Hocknull ©Eromanga Natural History Museum.

Lawrence, Vladislav Konstantinov, Stuart Mackenzie and Robyn Mackenzie, 7 June 2021, PeerJ.

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