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Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Ampelosaurus





Ampelosaurus is a best known long necked dinosaur in Europe. Its name means "Vineyard Lizard". Approaching 15 meters in lenght and weighing 10 tons, it was from the same family as giant Argentinosaurus. It was found in France. It was probably related to dinosaurs that travelled from South America, when that continent was still connected to Africa. Like a huge african Paralititan it shares many characteristics with its South American ancestors. 
The first remains were found in a bonebed discovered in 1989, which produced numerous ribs and vertebrae from the back and tail, as well as many limb bones, but no skull material aside from one tooth. Four osteoderms of different sizes and shapes were also recovered from this bonebed. While most titanosaurs are found in the southern continents of Gondwana, several derived species are known from Maastrichtian sediments in the Northern Hemisphere, including Alamosaurus in North America and Opisthocoelicaudia in Asia, indicating that there must have been at least intermittent connections between the northern and southern continents. This seems to be corroborated by the European find of Tarascosaurus, a Late Cretaceous theropod dinosaur similar to the abelisaurids, otherwise known only from the southern continents

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