Titanosaurus dinosaur pictures and profile

Titanosaurus was a large, lightly armoured, elephant-legged dinosaur that roamed every continent on Earth during the late Mesozoic era. In the slides below, you'll find pictures and detailed cutaways of more than 50 Titanosaurus, from Wind Dragon to Wintonotitan.

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King Kong Dragon

Eduardo Camarga

• Name: Adamantisaurus (Greek "Adamantina lizard"); PRONOUNCED ADD-AH-MANT-IH-SORE-US
• Habitat: Woodlands of South America
• Historical period: Late Cretaceous period (75-65 million years ago)
• Dimensions and weight: Up to 100 feet long and up to 100 tons
• Dieting: Plants
• Notable features: large size; long neck and tail; Probably armor

How many titanosaurs — lightly armored descendants of sauropod dinosaurs — were found in South America? Well, the backlog is so heavy that scattered Drasaurus fossils were discovered nearly half a century before someone began describing and naming this giant dinosaur in 2006. While Adamantisaurus is certainly huge, up to 100 feet long from head to tail and weighs around 100 tons, no one has put this little-known herbivore in the record book until more fossils are found. For the record, Adamantisaurus appears to be closely related to Aeolosaurus, and it was found in the fossil bed that produced the relatively petite Gondwanatitan.

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Aedes aegyptidosaurus

Getty Images

• Name: Aedosaurus aegypti ("Egyptian lizard" in Greek); Pronounced ay-jipp-toe-sore-us
• Habitat: North African woodlands
• Historical period: Middle Cretaceous period (100 million to 95 million years ago)
• Size and weight: about 50 feet long and weighs about 12 tons
• Dieting: Plants
• Notable features: long neck and tail; The legs are relatively long

As is the case with many dinosaurs, the only fossil specimen of Aedes aegypti was destroyed during an Allied air raid on Munich at the end of World War II (meaning paleontologists had only a dozen years to study the dinosaur's "type fossil," which was unearthed in Egypt in 1932). Although the original specimen is no longer available, we know that Aedosaurus aegypti was one of the larger Cretaceous Titanosaurus (a branch of early Jurassic sauropods), and that it, or at least its juvenile, may appear on the lunch menu of the equally huge carnivore, Spinosaurus.

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Wind Dragon

• Name: Wind Dragon (Greek for "wind lizard"); PRONOUNCED AY-OH-LOW-SORE-US
• Habitat: Woodlands of South America
• Historical period: Late Cretaceous period (75-65 million years ago)
• Size and weight: about 50 feet long and weighs about 10-15 tons
• Dieting: Plants
• Features: large size; Anterior spines on the coccyx

A large number of titanosaurs — lightly armored descendants of sauropods — have been found in South America, but most of them are known from depressing incomplete fossil remains. Aeoliosaurus is relatively well represented in the fossil record, with a near-intact spine and leg bones and scattered "scales" (tough skin used for armor plates). Most interestingly, the thorns on the tail vertebrae of the wind dragon point forward, suggesting that the 10-ton herbivore may have been able to gnaw on tall tree tops with its hind legs. (By the way, the name Aeolosaurus comes from the ancient Greek "guardian of the wind" Aeolus, referring to the windy conditions in the Patagonia region of South America.)

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Augustinia

Makoto Tamura

• Name: Augustinia (named after paleontologist Augustin Martinelli); PRONOUNCED AH-GUS-TIN-EE-AH
• Habitat: Woodlands of South America
• Historical period: Early Middle Cretaceous (115-100 million years ago)
• Size and weight: about 50 feet long and weighs about 10-20 tons
• Dieting: Plants
• Notable features: large size; Thorns protruding from the vertebrae

While this titanosaurus or armored sauropod was named after Augustin Martinelli (the student who discovered the "type fossil"), the driving force behind identifying Augustinia was the famous South American paleontologist Jose M. F. Bonaparte. This large herbivorous dinosaur knew only very fragmentary remains, which is enough to prove that Augustinian had a series of spines on his back that probably evolved for display purposes rather than a means of defense against predators. In this respect, Augustinia resembles another famous South American titanosaurus, the early Amagasaurus.

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Alamo dragon

Dmitry Bogdanov

Curiously, the Alamosaurus was not named after the Alamo in Texas, but after the Ojo Alamo sandstone formation in New Mexico. When many (but incomplete) fossil specimens were found in the Lone Star State, this titanosaurus already had its name.

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Amperon

• Name: Ampelosaurus ("vineyard lizard" in Greek); PRONOUNCED AMP-ELL-OH-SORE-US
• Habitat: Forested land of Europe
• Historical period: Late Cretaceous period (70-65 million years ago)
• Size and weight: about 50 feet long and weighs about 15-20 tons
• Dieting: Plants
• Notable features: Spiked armor on the back, neck and tail

Like the South American Saltasaurus, the European Amperosaurus is the best-known armored titanosaurus (a clade of sauropods that flourished in the late Cretaceous). For Titanosaurus, Amperosaurus was represented by several more or less complete fossil remains, all from a riverbed, which allowed paleontologists to reconstruct it in detail.

As Titanosaurus developed, Amperosaurus did not have an impressively long neck or tail, although beyond that, it adhered to a basic sauropod body plan. What really sets this herbivore apart is the armor on its back, which isn't as intimidating as what you'd see on contemporary ankylosaurs, but still the most unique on any sauropod dinosaur. Why was Amperosaurus covered with such thick armor plates? Undoubtedly, as a means of fending off the greedy birds of prey and tyrannosaurs of the late Cretaceous.

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Ansanlong

Samir prehistory

• Name: Andean dragon ("Andean lizard" in Greek); PRONOUNCED AHN-DAY-SORE-US
• Habitat: Woodlands of South America
• Historical period: Middle Cretaceous period (100 million to 95 million years ago)
• Dimensions and weight: approximately 130 feet long; The weight is unknown
• Dieting: Plants
• Notable features: long neck and tail; The legs are relatively long

Like many titanosaurs — huge, sometimes lightly armored sauropods that ruled during the Cretaceous period — what we know about Andersaurus comes from a number of fossilized skeletons, including parts of the spine and scattered ribs. From these limited remains, however, paleontologists have been able to replicate (with a high degree of accuracy) what this herbivore looks like — and it's likely large enough (more than 100 feet from head to tail) to rival another South American sauropod dinosaur, Argentinosaurus (some paleontologists classify it as "basal" or primitive Titanosaurus itself).

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Angolan Titan

University of Lisbon

• Name: Angolan Titan ("Angolan giant" in Greek); Pronounced ang-oh-la-tie-tan
• Habitat: African desert
• Historical period: Late Cretaceous period (90 million years ago)
• Size and weight: Unknown
• Dieting: Plants
• Notable features: long neck and tail; Probably light armor

Its name — "Angolan giant" in Greek — sums up almost everything that is currently known about the Angolan Titan, the first dinosaur to be found in this war-torn African country. Judging by the fossilized remains of its right forelimb, Angolan Titan is apparently a Titanosaurus — a lightly armored late Cretaceous descendant of giant sauropods from the Jurassic period — that appears to have lived in a hot desert habitat. Since the "type specimen" of Angolan Titan was found in sediments that also produced fossilized prehistoric sharks, it is speculated that the individual encountered doom when it strayed into shark-infested waters, although we may never know for sure.

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Antarctic dragon

Eduardo Camarga

• Name: Antarctic dragon (Greek for "southern lizard"); PRONOUNCED ANN-TARK-TOE-SORE-US
• Habitat: Woodlands of South America
• Historical period: Late Cretaceous period (80-65 million years ago)
• Size and weight: about 60 feet to 100 feet long and weigh about 50 to 100 tons
• Dieting: Plants
• Distinctive features: square blunt head with spiked teeth

The "type fossil" of the titanosaurus Antarcticosaurus was found in the southernmost tip of South America; Despite its name, it's unclear whether this dinosaur actually lived in nearby Antarctica (which had a much warmer climate during the Cretaceous period). It's unclear whether the few species found so far belong to this genus: one specimen of Antarcticosaurus was about 60 feet long from head to tail, but another specimen was more than 100 feet in size comparable to Argentinosaurus. In fact, Antarctic dragons are such a jigsaw puzzle, and scattered remains found in India and Africa may (or may not) end up in this genus!

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Argentinosaurus

Argentinosaurus is not only the largest titanosaurus ever made; It is quite possibly the largest dinosaur ever lived and the largest land animal, second only to some sharks and whales (which can support their weight due to the buoyancy of the water).

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Argirosaurus

Eduardo Camarga

• Name: Argyrosaurus (Greek for "silver lizard"); PRONOUNCED ARE-GUY-ROE-SORE-US
• Habitat: Woodlands of South America
• Historical period: Late Cretaceous period (80 million years ago)
• Size and weight: about 50-60 feet long and weighs about 10-15 tons
• Dieting: Plants
• Notable features: large size; Long neck and long tail

Like many Titanosaurus — a lightly armored descendant of giant sauropod dinosaurs from the late Jurassic — what we know about Argyrosaurus is all based on fossil fragments, in this case, individual forelimbs. Millions of years before truly huge titans such as Argentinosaurus and Double Dragon, Argyrosaurus ("silver lizard") roamed the woodlands of South America and did not exactly belong to the weight class of these dinosaurs, although it was still a fairly large herbivore, measuring 50 to 60 feet from head to tail and weighing about 10 to 15 tons.

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Aulong

Australian Government

• Name: Austral (Greek for "southern lizard"); PRONOUNCED AW-STRO-SORE-US
• Habitat: Australian woodlands
• Historical period: Early Cretaceous period (110 million to 100 million years ago)
• Size and weight: about 50-60 feet long and weighs about 15-20 tons
• Dieting: Plants
• Notable features: large size; Long neck and long tail

The story of the discovery of the Australian dragon sounds like a comedy from the 1930s: a passenger on an Australian train noticed some strange fossils on the tracks and then notified the nearest station manager, who made sure the specimen ended up at the nearby Queensland Museum. At the time, the aptly named " Southern Lizard " ) was only the second sauropod ( specifically " titanosaurus " ) discovered in Australia after the earlier Rotorosaurus in the Middle Jurassic. Since the remains of this dinosaur were found in areas rich in plesiosaur fossils, it was once thought that Austrosaurus spent most of its life underwater, breathing like a snorkel with its long neck!

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Bonitasaurus

• Name: Bonitasaura (Greek "La Bonita lizard"); Pronounced bo-neat-ah-sore-ah
• Habitat: Woodlands of South America
• Historical period: Late Cretaceous period (70-65 million years ago)
• Size and weight: about 30 feet long and weighs about 10 tons
• Dieting: Plants
• Notable features: square jaw, knife-shaped teeth

In general, paleontologists have had a hard time finding the skulls of Titanosaurus, a branch of sauropods that flourished during the late Cretaceous period (this is because of a quirk in sauropod anatomy where the skulls of dead individuals are easily separated from the rest of the bones). Bonitasaura is one of the rare titanosaurs represented by fossilized lower jaws, which show an unusually square, blunt head and, more strikingly, a blade-shaped structure on the back designed to cut vegetation.

As for the rest of Bonitasaura, this titanosaurus looks like an ordinary four-legged plant eater, with a long neck and tail, stout columnar legs and a bulky torso. Paleontologists note that they are very similar to diplodocus, meaning Bonitasaura rushed to occupy the empty space left by diplodocus (and related sauropods) when the genus went extinct millions of years ago.

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Bruhart Cayoron

Vladimir Nikolov

Fossil fragments of Brutascayosaurus do not convincingly "add up" to a complete titanosaurus; This dinosaur is classified as one type only because of its size. However, if Bruhart Cayosaurus was a titanosaurus, it could be larger than Argentinosaurus!

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Chubutis dragon

Ezequiel Vera

• Name: Chubutilong ("Chubutt lizard" in Greek); PRONOUNCED CHOO-BOO-TIH-SORE-US
• Habitat: Woodlands of South America
• Historical period: Early Cretaceous period (110 million to 100 million years ago)
• Size and weight: about 60 feet long and weighs about 10-15 tons
• Dieting: Plants
• Notable features: large size; Long neck and long tail

Not much can be said about the early Cretaceous Chubutisaurus, except that it seems to be a fairly typical South American titanosaurus: a large, lightly armored four-legged herbivore with a long neck and tail. What makes this dinosaur even more twisted is that its scattered remains were found near the fearsome Tyrannotitan, a 40-foot-long theropod dinosaur closely related to Allosaurus. We're not sure if hordes of tyrannosaurs shot down adult Chubutisaurus, but this would certainly make a striking image!

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Diamantinalong

• Name: Diamantinasaurus (Greek "Diamantina River Lizard"); Pronounced dee-ah-man-teen-ah-sore-us
• Habitat: Australian woodlands
• Historical period: Middle Cretaceous period (100 million years ago)
• Size and weight: about 50 feet long and weighs about 10 tons
• Dieting: Plants
• Notable features: large size; Possible armor on the back

Titanosaurus is an armored descendant of sauropod dinosaurs and can be found all over the world during the Cretaceous period. The latest example from Australia is Diamantinasaurus, which is represented by a fairly complete fossil specimen, albeit headless. Aside from its basic size, no one knows exactly what Diamantinasaurus looks like, although (like other titanosaurs) its back may be lined with scaly armor plates. If its scientific name (meaning "Diamantina River Lizard") is too tongue-in-cheek, you might want to call this dinosaur by its Australian nickname, Matilda.

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Dreadnought

Carnegie Museum of Natural History

• Name: Dreadnoughts (after the battleships were called "dreadnoughts"); Pronounced dred-naw-tuss
• Habitat: South American plains
• Historical period: Late Cretaceous period (77 million years ago)
• Size and weight: about 85 feet long and weighs about 60 tons
• Dieting: Plants
• Notable features: huge size; Long neck and long tail

Don't let the headlines fool you; The dreadnought dinosaur is not the largest dinosaur ever discovered, not a vista. However, it was the largest dinosaur – specifically Titanosaurus – and we have indisputable fossil evidence of its length and weight, and the bones of two separate individuals allowed researchers to piece together 70% of its "type fossils." (Other Titanosaurus genera that lived in the same region of Argentina during the Late Cretaceous, such as Argentinosaurus and Diplodocus, were indisputably larger than dreadnoughts, but their recovered bones were far less intact.) Still, you have to admit that this dinosaur was given an impressive name, named after the huge armored "dreadnought" battleship of the early 20th century.

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Epaxoron

• Name: Epachthosaurus (Greek for "heavy lizard"); PRONOUNCED EH-PACK-THO-SORE-US
• Habitat: Woodlands of South America
• Historical period: Late Cretaceous period (70-65 million years ago)
• Size and weight: about 60 feet long and weighs about 25-30 tons
• Dieting: Plants
• Notable features: strong back and back; Lack of armor

Not all dinosaurs that flourished at the end of the Cretaceous period (just before the K/T extinction) represented the pinnacle of evolution. A good example is Epachthosaurus, which paleontologists classify as Titanosaurus, although it appears to lack the armor plates that typically characterize these late, geographically widespread sauropods. Basal Epachthosaurus appears to be a "throwback" to the anatomy of early sauropods, particularly with regard to the original structure of its vertebrae, but it still somehow managed to coexist with more advanced members of the breed.

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Erketu

American Museum of Natural History

• Name: Erketu (named after the Mongolian deity); PRONOUNCED YOUR -KEH-TOO
• Habitat: Central Asian woodlands
• Historical period: Early Cretaceous period (120 million years ago)
• Size and weight: about 50 feet long and weighs about 5 tons
• Dieting: Plants
• Notable features: moderate size; Extremely long neck

With the exception of a handful of sauropod dinosaurs — and their descendants of light armor during the Cretaceous period — who had extremely long necks, Elketu was no exception: this Mongolian titanosaurus had a neck about 25 feet long, which doesn't seem so unusual unless you consider that Erketu itself is only 50 feet from head to tail! In fact, Erketu is the current record holder for neck/body length ratio, surpassing even Mamenchisaurus with an extremely long neck (but larger). As you might have guessed from its anatomy, Erketu probably spends most of its time browsing the leaves of tall trees, which are not touched by short-necked herbivores.

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Erlongae

Futalognkosaurus has been hailed as "the most complete giant dinosaur ever known." (Other titanosaurs appear to be larger, but are represented by less complete fossil remains.)

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Gondwanatitan

• Name: Gondwana Titan (Greek for "Gondwana Giant"); PRONOUNCED DISAPPEAR - DWAN-AH-TIE-TAN
• Habitat: Woodlands of South America
• Historical period: Late Cretaceous period (70-65 million years ago)
• Size and weight: about 25 feet long and weighs 5 tons
• Dieting: Plants
• Notable features: relatively small size; Advanced bone features

Gondwanathan is one of those dinosaurs that is not as big as its name suggests: "Gondwana" is the huge southern continent that ruled the earth during the Cretaceous period, and "Titan" is "giant" in Greek. Put them together, though, and you have a relatively small Titanosaurus, only about 25 feet long (compared to other South American sauropods such as Argentinosaurus and Futalognkosaurus that were 100 feet or more long). In addition to its modest size, Gondwanathan is notable for possessing certain anatomical features (particularly involving the tail and tibia) that appear to have been more "evolved" than other titanosaurs of the time, especially the contemporary (and relatively primitive) Epaxosaurus from South America.

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North China Dragon

• Name: North China Dragon (Greek for "North China Lizard"); PRONOUNCED HWA-BAY-SORE-US
• Habitat: Asian woodlands
• Historical period: Late Cretaceous period (75 million years ago)
• Size and weight: about 50-60 feet long and weighs about 10-15 tons
• Dieting: Plants
• Notable features: large size; Extremely long neck

Paleontologists are still trying to figure out the evolutionary relationship between numerous sauropods and titanosaurs in the late Mesozoic. Discovered in northern China in 2000, it doesn't clear up any confusion: Paleontologists who describe the dinosaur insist it belongs to an entirely new family of titanosaurs, while other experts point to its resemblance to controversial sauropods such as Opisthocoelicaudia. Regardless of its eventual classification, Sinosaurus was apparently one of the larger Asian dinosaurs in the late Cretaceous, and it probably used its extra-long neck to gnaw on the tall leaves of trees.

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Yellow River Titan

• Name: Yellow River Titan (Chinese/Greek "Yellow River Titan"); Pronounced Huang Hey Tietan
• Habitat: East Asian plains
• Historical period: Middle Cretaceous period (100 million to 95 million years ago)
• Dimensions and weight: Up to 100 feet long and up to 100 tons
• Dieting: Plants
• Notable features: huge size; Long neck and long tail

Discovered near the Yellow River in China in 2004 and described two years later, the Yellow River Titan was a classic Titanosaurus: a massive, lightly armored quadruped dinosaur that was distributed around the world throughout the Cretaceous period. Judging by the herbivore's ten-foot-long ribs, the Yellow River Titan has one of the deepest body cavities of any titanosaur ever discovered, which (plus its length) has led some paleontologists to nominate it as one of the largest dinosaurs ever made. We're not quite sure, but we do know that the Yellow River Titan is closely related to another Asian giant, the Great Xia Titan.

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Hepsilon

Makoto Tamura

• Name: Hypselosaurus (Greek for "high-spined lizard"); PRONOUNCED HIP-SELL-OH-SORE-US
• Habitat: Woodlands of Western Europe
• Historical period: Late Cretaceous period (70-65 million years ago)
• Size and weight: about 30 feet long and weighs about 10-20 tons
• Dieting: Plants
• Notable features: long neck and tail; The legs are unusually thick

As an example of the scattering and fragmentation of some Titanosaurus remains, paleontologists have identified 10 separate Hypselosaurus specimens, but they have still only been able to roughly reconstruct what this dinosaur looked like. It's unclear whether Hypselosaurus has armor (a trait common to most other titanosaurs), but its legs are apparently thicker than most of its peers, and its teeth are relatively small and fragile. Its strange anatomical quirks aside, Hypselosaurus is best known for its fossilized eggs, a full foot in diameter. For this dinosaur, though, even the origin of these eggs is controversial; Some experts believe they actually belong to the huge, prehistoric, flightless bird Gargantuavis.

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Isylon

Makoto Tamura

• Name: Isylon (acronym for "Indian Institute of Statistics Lizard"); Pronounced eye sores
• Habitat: Central Asian woodlands
• Historical period: Late Cretaceous period (70-65 million years ago)
• Size and weight: about 55 feet long and weighs about 15 tons
• Dieting: Plants
• Notable features: short neck, horizontal orientation; Strong forelimbs

When its bones were dug up in 1997, Isizon was identified as a species of Titanosaurus; After further analysis, the titanosaurus was assigned its own genus, named after the Indian Institute of Statistics, which has many dinosaur fossils. The reconstruction is necessarily whimsical, but according to some accounts, Isylon may look like a giant hyena with long, powerful forelimbs and a relatively short neck parallel to the ground. In addition, the analysis of this dinosaur symbiosis revealed fungal remains of several plants, giving us a good idea of the diet of Isisylon.

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Gianolong

Patrayn

• Name: Jainosaurus (named after Indian paleontologist Sohan Lal Jain); Pronounced Jane-Oh-Acid-us
• Habitat: Central Asian woodlands
• Historical period: Late Cretaceous period (70-65 million years ago)
• Size and weight: about 50 feet long and weighs about 15-20 tons
• Dieting: Plants
• Notable features: long neck and tail; Light body armor

It's rather unusual for a paleontologist to insist that the genus is a named dubium — but that's the case with Jainosaurus, whose winner, Indian paleontologist Sohan Lal Jain, believes the dinosaur should actually be classified as a species (or specimen) of Titanosaurus. Originally assigned to Antarcticosaurus, more than a decade after the discovery of fossils of its type in India in 1920, Jainosaurus was a quintessential titanosaurus, a medium-sized ("only" about 20 tons) phytovorous animal covered in light body armor. It may be closely related to Isisaurus, another Indian titanosaurus, from the late Cretaceous.

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Magarosaurus

• Name: Magyarosaurus ("Magyar lizard" in Greek); PRONOUNCED MAG-YAR-OH-SORE-US
• Habitat: Central European woodlands
• Historical period: Late Cretaceous period (70 million years ago)
• Size and weight: about 20 feet long, one ton
• Dieting: Plants
• Notable features: abnormally small size; Long neck and long tail

Magyarosaurus, named after the Magyars — one of the ancient tribes that settled in modern Hungary — is a prominent example of what biologists call "island dwarfism": animals confined to isolated ecosystems tend to grow to smaller sizes than their relatives elsewhere. While most Titanosaurus from the Late Cretaceous were truly giant beasts (50 to 100 feet long and weighing 15 to 100 tons), Magyarosaurus was only 20 feet long from head to tail, weighing a ton or two, on top. This elephant-sized titanosaur probably spent most of its time in low-lying swamps, burying its head underwater in search of delicious vegetation.

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Malawian dragon

Royal Ontario Museum

• Name: Malawian dragon (Greek "Malawi lizard"); PRONOUNCED MAH-LAH-WEE-SORE-US
• Habitat: African woodlands
• Historical period: Early Cretaceous (125-115 million years ago)
• Size and weight: about 40 feet long and weighs about 10-15 tons
• Dieting: Plants
• Notable features: large size; Armor-plated back

Compared to the still-mysterious Titanosaurus, Malawius can be said to be a "type specimen" of Titanosaurus, a lightly armored descendant of giant sauropod dinosaurs from the Jurassic period. Malawius was one of the few titanosaurs with direct evidence of a skull (although only part of the skull, including most of the upper and lower jaws), and fossilized scales have been found near its remains, evidence of armor plates that once lined the neck and back of this herbivore. By the way, Malawius was once considered a species of the now-inactive genus Dragon - not to be confused with Giganotosaurus (note the extra "o"), which was not Titanosaurus at all, but a large theropod dinosaur.

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Masaki Dragon

Wikimedia Commons

• Name: Maxakalisaurus ("Maxakalizard" in Greek); PRONOUNCED MAX-AH-KAL-EE-SORE-US
• Habitat: Woodlands of South America
• Historical period: Late Cretaceous period (80 million years ago)
• Size and weight: about 50-60 feet long and weighs about 10-15 tons
• Dieting: Plants
• Notable features: long neck and tail; Ridged teeth

A new genus of titanosaurus—a lightly armored descendant of sauropod dinosaurs—has been discovered in South America; The peculiarity of Maxakilisaurus is that it is one of the largest members of this populous breed found in Brazil. Known for its relatively long neck (even Titanosaurus) and distinctive ridged teeth, this herbivore is undoubtedly an adaptation of the type of leaves it depends on. Maxakalisaurus shared its habitat with two other titanosaurs in South America during the late Cretaceous and may be closely related to two others, Adamantinasaurus and Gondwanatitan.

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Mendozalon

Makoto Tamura

• Name: Maxakalisaurus ("Maxakalizard" in Greek); PRONOUNCED MAX-AH-KAL-EE-SORE-US
• Habitat: Woodlands of South America
• Historical period: Late Cretaceous period (80 million years ago)
• Size and weight: about 50-60 feet long and weighs about 10-15 tons
• Dieting: Plants
• Notable features: long neck and tail; Ridged teeth

New titanosaur species — lightly armored descendants of sauropod dinosaurs — have been found in South America; The peculiarity of Maxakilisaurus is that it is one of the largest members of this populous breed found in Brazil. Known for its relatively long neck (even Titanosaurus) and distinctive ridged teeth, this herbivore is undoubtedly an adaptation of the type of leaves it depends on. Maxakalisaurus shared its habitat with two other titanosaurs in South America during the late Cretaceous and may be closely related to two others, Adamantinasaurus and Gondwanatitan.

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Nemegtoron

• Name: Nemegtosaurus ("Nemegt Formation lizard" in Greek); Pronounced neh-meg-toe-sore-us
• Habitat: Asian woodlands
• Historical period: Late Cretaceous period (80-65 million years ago)
• Size and weight: about 40 feet long and weighs about 20 tons
• Dieting: Plants
• Distinctive features: long, narrow skull with nail-like teeth

Nemegtosaurus is a bit of an anomaly: while most of the bones of Titanosaurus (sauropods of the late Cretaceous) are missing skulls, the genus has been reconstructed from a single partial skull and part of the neck. Nemegtosaurus' head has been likened to that of Diplodocus: it was small, relatively narrow, with small teeth and an inconspicuous lower jaw. However, apart from its noggin, Nemegtosaurus appears to be similar to other Asian titanosaurs, such as Aedosaurus aegypti and Rapetosaurus. This is a completely different dinosaur from the similarly named Nemegtomaia, a feathered dinosaur.

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Neukenlong

• Name: Neuquén Dragon (Greek "Neuquén Lizard"); PRONOUNCED NOY-KWEN-SORE-US
• Habitat: Woodlands of South America
• Historical period: Late Cretaceous period (70-65 million years ago)
• Size and weight: about 50 feet long and weighs about 10-15 tons
• Dieting: Plants
• Notable features: long neck and tail; Light armor plating

Neuquénosaurus was one of the countless titanosaurs found in South America – a lightly armored descendant of sauropod dinosaurs – and was a medium-sized member of the breed, weighing "only" around 10 to 15 tons. Like most Titanosaurus, Neuquénosaurus was coated with light armor on its neck, back and tail — so much so that it was originally mistaken for the genus Ankylosaurus — and it was once classified as a species of the mysterious Titanosaurus. It turns out that Neuquénosaurus is the same dinosaur as the earlier Saltasaurus, in which case the latter name will take precedence.

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Horned toxoplasma

• Name: rearview mirror ("posterior tail fossa" in Greek); Pronounced OH-pis-tho-see-lih-CAW-dee-ah
• Habitat: Central Asian woodlands
• Historical period: Late Cretaceous period (80-65 million years ago)
• Size and weight: about 40 feet long and weighs about 10-15 tons
• Dieting: Plants
• Notable features: light armor; long neck and tail; Peculiarly shaped tail vertebrae

If you've never heard of Opisthocoelicaudia, you can thank a text-conscious paleontologist who named the dinosaur after a vague feature of the tail vertebrae in 1977 (long story short, the "fossael" part of these bones pointed backward, rather than forward, as most sauropods found at the time). Its hard-to-pronounce name aside, Opisthocoelicaudia, a small- to medium-sized, lightly armored titanosaurus from Late Cretaceous Central Asia, may prove to be a species of the more famous Nemegtosaurus. As with most sauropods and titanosaurs, there is no fossil evidence of the head of this dinosaur.

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Bird mites

Ornithology.

• Name: Bird Butterfly (Greek for "bird face"); Pronounced OR-nih-THOP-sis
• Habitat: Woodlands of Western Europe
• Historical period: Early Cretaceous period (125 million years ago)
• Size and weight: Unknown
• Dieting: Plants
• Notable features: moderate size; long neck and tail; Probably armor

It was amazing how many waves a fossil vertebrae could produce. When it was first discovered on the Isle of Wight in the mid-19th century, British paleontologist Harry Seeley identified ornithdisease as a vague "missing link" (hence the name "bird's face" between birds, dinosaurs and pterosaurs (hence the name "bird's face", although fossils of this type do not have a skull). A few years later, Richard Owen made his own bashing of the situation by blaming the avianodon, Bothriospondylus, and an obscure sauropod. Today, what we know about the primitive type fossil of Ornithosaurus is that it belonged to Titanosaurus, which may or may not be closely related to British genera such as Cetaceansaurus.

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Super Dragon

• Name: Overron ("Cerro Overro Lizard"); PRONOUNCED OH-VEH-ROE-SORE-US
• Habitat: South American plains
• Historical period: Late Cretaceous period (80 million years ago)
• Size and weight: about 30 feet long and weighs about 5 tons
• Dieting: Plants
• Notable features: small size; Long neck and long tail

If every titan dragon you find in modern South America has a dollar, you'll be enough to buy a very beautiful birthday present. Overosaurus (announced to the world in 2013) is unique in that it appears to be a "pygmy" titanosaurus, measuring 30 feet from head to tail and weighing only about 5 tons (compared to the more famous Argentinosaurus weighing 50 to 100 tons). Examination of its scattered remains revealed that Overosaurus was closely related to two other larger South American titansaurs, Gondwanatitan and Aeolosaurus.

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Panamericanosaurus

• Name: Pan Amon (after Pan Am Energy); PRONOUNCED PAN-AH-MEH-RIH-CAN-SORE-US
• Habitat: Woodlands of South America
• Historical period: Late Cretaceous period (75-65 million years ago)
• Size and weight: about 30 feet long and weighs about <> tons
• Dieting: Plants
• Notable features: relatively small size; Long neck and long tail

Panamericanaulosaurus was one of those dinosaurs whose name length was inversely proportional to its body length: this late Cretaceous Titanosaurus measured "only" about 30 feet from head to tail and weighed about five tons, making it a true shrimp compared to truly massive titanosaurs such as Argentinosaurus. A close relative of the Wind Dragon, Pan Amon was named not after the now-defunct airline, but after the South American company Pan Am Energy, which sponsored Argentine excavations where the remains of this dinosaur were found.

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Parali Titan

• Name: Paralititan (Greek for "tidal giant"); Pronounced pah-ra-lih-tie-tan
• Habitat: North African swamps
• Historical period: Middle Cretaceous (95 million years ago)
• Size and weight: about 100 feet long and weighs about 70 tons
• Dieting: Plants
• Notable features: huge size; Long neck and long tail

Paralititan is a new addition to the list of giant titanosaurs that lived during the Cretaceous period. The remains of this giant herbivore, specifically the upper arm bones more than five feet long, were found in Egypt in 2001; Paleontologists believe it may have been the second-largest sauropod dinosaur in history, second only to the truly massive Argentinosaurus.

One of the strange things about Paralititan is that it flourished at a time when other Titanosaurus genera were slowly becoming extinct (mid-Cretaceous) and gave way to better armored members of the breed that inherited them. The climate in North Africa, where the Parali Titan lived, seems to be particularly dense with lush vegetation, and this giant dinosaur needs to eat a lot of vegetation every day.

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Puvian Goron

Government of Thailand

• Name: Phuwiangosaurus ("Phu Wiang lizard" in Greek); PRONOUNCED FOO-WEE-ANG-OH-SORE-US
• Habitat: East Asian woodlands
• Historical period: Early Cretaceous (130 million to 120 million years ago)
• Size and weight: about 75 feet long and weighs about 50 tons
• Dieting: Plants
• Notable features: narrow teeth; long neck; Bizarre-shaped vertebrae

Titanosaurus — a lightly armored descendant of sauropod dinosaurs — was so widespread during the Cretaceous period that almost every nation on Earth could claim its own genus Titanosaurus. Thailand participating in the Titanosaurus lottery is Phuwiangosaurus, which in some ways (long neck, light armor) is typical of the breed, but in others (narrow teeth, strangely shaped vertebrae) is different. One possible explanation for Phuwiangosaurus' unique anatomy is that this dinosaur lived in part of Southeast Asia, separated from much of Eurasia during the early Cretaceous; Its close relative appears to be Nemegtosaurus.

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Pultaron

Eduardo Camarga

• Name: Puertasaurus (Greek for "Lizard of Puerta"); PRONOUNCED PWER-TAH-SORE-US
• Habitat: Woodlands of South America
• Historical period: Late Cretaceous period (70 million years ago)
• Dimensions and weight: Up to 130 feet and up to 100 tons
• Dieting: Plants
• Notable features: huge size; Long neck and long tail

While Argentinosaurus was South America's most reliable giant titanosaurus during the Late Cretaceous, it was far from the only one of its kind — and its size was likely eclipsed by Puertasaurus, whose massive vertebrae suggest a dinosaur that grew more than 100 feet from head to tail and weighed 100 tons. (Another South American titanosaurus of this size is Futalognkosaurus, a genus in India that may be larger.) However, since Titanosaurus is known from frustratingly scattered and incomplete fossil remains, the true title holder of "World's Largest Dinosaur" remains undetermined.

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Quicitolong

• Name: Quaesitosaurus (Greek for "extraordinary lizard"); PRONOUNCED KWAY-SIT-OH-SORE-US
• Habitat: Central Asian woodlands
• Historical period: Late Cretaceous period (85-70 million years ago)
• Size and weight: about 75 feet long and weighs about 50-60 tons
• Dieting: Plants
• Notable features: small head, large ear opening

Like Nemegtosaurus, another titanosaurus in Central Asia, much of what we know about Quaesitosaurus was reconstructed from an incomplete skull (the rest of this dinosaur's body was inferred from more complete fossils of other sauropods). In many ways, Quaesitosaurus appears to be a typical Titanosaurus, with its elongated neck and tail and bulky body (with or without basic armor). Based on an analysis of the skull — which had an unusually large ear opening — Quaesitosaurus may have had keen hearing, though it's unclear whether that distinguishes it from other titanosaurs from the late Cretaceous.

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Canola dragon

The Indian Ocean island of Madagascar had only recently separated from the African continent when Rapetosaurus lived 70 million years ago, so it's likely that this titanosaur evolved from an African sauropod that lived millions of years ago.

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Lin Konglong

• Name: Linkondragon ("Linkon lizard"); Pronounced as an ice rink
• Habitat: Woodlands of South America
• Historical period: Late Cretaceous period (95-90 million years ago)
• Size: Approximately 35 feet long and weighs 5 tons
• Dieting: Plants
• Notable features: small size; long neck and tail; Light armor plating

Not all Titans are the same. A classic example is the Rinconsaurus, which is just 35 feet from start to finish and weighs about 5 tons — in stark contrast to the 100 tons reached by other South American titanosaurs (especially Argentinosaurus, which also lived in Argentina during the middle and late Cretaceous). Apparently, the astaxaurus evolved to feed on a special type of low-to-ground vegetation, which it stripped off with many chisel-like teeth; Its close relatives appear to be Aeolosaurus and Gondwanatitan.

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Saltalon

Alain Benedo

Saltasaurus differed from other titanosaurus in its unusually thick bony armor on its back — an adaptation that led paleontologists to initially mistake the remains of this dinosaur for those of a completely unrelated ankylosaurus.

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Savanna

• Name: Savannah dragon ("Savannah lizard"); PRONOUNCED SAH-VAN-OH-SORE-US
• Habitat: Australian woodlands
• Historical period: Middle Cretaceous (95 million years ago)
• Size and weight: about 50 feet long and weighs about 10 tons
• Dieting: Plants
• Notable features: moderate size; Four-legged pose

Interestingly, the discovery of a new genus of titanosaurs – giant lightly armored dinosaurs that spread across the globe during the Cretaceous period – always produces the breath-taking "largest dinosaur ever!" "Newspaper headlines. In the case of savannah dragons, this is even more interesting because this Australian titanosaurus is modest at best: only about 50 feet from head to tail and weighs 10 tons, making it almost an order of magnitude less than truly huge herbivores such as South American Argentinosaurus and Double Dragon.

Jokes aside, what matters about Savannah Dragon is not its size, but its evolutionary kinship with other Titanosaurus. Analysis of savannah dragons and their closely related cousin, Diamantinasaurus, concluded that between 105 million and 100 million years ago, titanosaurus migrated from South America to Australia via Antarctica. What's more, since we know that Titanosaurus lived in South America long before the middle Cretaceous, there must have been some physical barriers preventing them from migrating earlier—perhaps a river or mountain range that bisected the large continent Gondwana, or the polar regions of the continent that the climate was too cold to survive without dinosaurs, no matter how big.

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Suleiman Dragon

Xenomorph

• Name: Suleiman nylon ("Solomon's lizard"); Pronounced SOO-lay-man-ih-SORE-us
• Habitat: Central Asian woodlands
• Historical period: Late Cretaceous period (70-65 million years ago)
• Size and weight: the secret
• Dieting: Plants
• Notable features: long neck and tail; four-legged pose; Light armor plating

Historically, Pakistan did not produce much in terms of dinosaurs (but, due to the vagaries of geology, the country is rich in prehistoric whales). The late Cretaceous titanosaurus Suleimansaurus was "diagnosed" from limited remains by Pakistani paleontologist Sadiq Markani; Malkani also named the genus Khetranisaurus, Pakisaurus, Balochisaurus and Marisaurus based on equally fragmentary evidence. Whether these titanosaurs — or the family Markani has proposed for them, "pakisauridae" — will gain any traction will depend on future fossil discoveries; At the moment, most are considered suspicious.

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Don Valoron

• Name: Don Wayo Dragon ("Tang Wei Lizard"); Pronounced Don-V-Oh-Acid-US
• Habitat: Asian plains
• Historical period: Early Cretaceous (110 million years ago)
• Size and weight: about 50 feet long and weighs about 10-15 tons
• Dieting: Plants
• Notable features: long neck and tail; four-legged pose; Light armor plating

Tangvayosaurus, one of the few dinosaurs found in Laos, is a medium-sized, lightly armored titanosaurus-lightly armored sauropod family that achieved global distribution at the end of the Mesozoic era. Like its close relative and slightly earlier relative, Phuwiangosaurus (found in nearby Thailand), Tangvayosaurus lived at a time when the first titanosaurs began to evolve from their sauropod ancestors, not yet reaching the enormous size of later genera such as Argentinosaurus in South America.

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Tapuyaron

• Name: Tapuiasaurus ("Tapuia lizard" in Greek); PRONOUNCED TAP-WEE-AH-SORE-US
• Habitat: Woodlands of South America
• Historical period: Early Cretaceous period (120 million years ago)
• Size and weight: about 40 feet long, 8-10 tons
• Dieting: Plants
• Notable features: moderate size; Long neck and long tail

It was during the early Cretaceous period that sauropods began to evolve the thick, knotty armor characteristic of the first titanosaurs. The South American Tapuiasaurus dates back about 120 million years and may have recently been born from its sauropod ancestors, so this titanosaurus was modest in size (only about 40 feet from head to tail) and presumably basic armor. Tapuiasaurus is one of the few Titanosaurus represented in the fossil record by a near-complete skull (recently discovered in Brazil), a distant ancestor of the more famous Asian Titanosaurus Nemegtosaurus.

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Tastaven Dragon

Makoto Tamura

• Name: Tastaven ("Rio Tastaven lizard" in Greek); Pronounced TASS - TAH - Wen - Sore - us
• Habitat: Woodlands of Western Europe
• Historical period: Early Cretaceous period (125 million years ago)
• Size and weight: about 50 feet long and weighs about 10 tons
• Dieting: Plants
• Notable features: moderate size; four-legged pose; Long neck and long tail

During the Cretaceous period, almost every continent on Earth witnessed a share of Titanosaurus - the large lightly armored descendants of sauropod dinosaurs. Like Aragosaurus, Tastavenosaurus is one of the few titanosaurs known to have lived in Spain; The 50-foot-long, 10-ton herbivore shares some anatomical features with Pleurocoelus, an obscure state dinosaur in Texas, but beyond that, it remains poorly known due to the limited fossil remains. (As for why these dinosaurs evolved armor in the first place, it's undoubtedly a response to evolutionary pressures to hunt tyrannosaurs and birds of prey.)

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Titanosaurus

As often happens with dinosaurs of the same name, we know far less about Titanosaurus than the Titanosaurus family it bears after it – although we can safely say that this giant phytovorous animal laid eggs the size of an equally huge bowling ball.

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Uberra Batitan

Brazilian dinosaurs

• Name: Ubela Battitan (Greek "Ubelaba lizard"); Pronounced OO-beh-rah-bah-tie-tan
• Habitat: Woodlands of South America
• Historical period: Late Cretaceous period (70-65 million years ago)
• Size and weight: undetermined, but large
• Dieting: Plants
• Notable features: large size; Long neck and long tail

For Titanosaurus — the large lightly armored descendants of giant sauropod dinosaurs from the Jurassic period — Uberrabatitan is represented by three separate fossil specimens of different sizes, all of which are found in Brazilian geological formations known as the Bauru Formation. This noisy-named dinosaur is special because it is the youngest titanosaur yet to be discovered in the region, "only" about 70 million to 65 million years old (so it may have been roaming when the dinosaur went extinct at the end of the Cretaceous).

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Wahini

Getty Images

• Name: Wahini (Malagasy for "traveler"); PRONOUNCED VIE-IN-NEE
• Habitat: Woodlands of Madagascar
• Historical period: Late Cretaceous period (70-65 million years ago)
• Size and weight: the secret
• Dieting: Plants
• Notable features: long, muscular neck; Four-legged pose

For many years, Rapetosaurus ("mischievous lizard") was the only known titanosaurus to live on the island of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean — a very well-founded dinosaur, represented by thousands of scattered fossils dating back to the late Cretaceous. However, in 2014, researchers announced the existence of a second, rarer genus of titanosaurus, which is closely related to Rapetosaurus, but rather to Indian titanosaurus Jainosaurus and Isisaurus. There's still a lot we don't know about Vahiny ("traveler" in Malagasy), and that should change as more fossils are identified.

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Ventonotitan

• Name: Wintonotitan ("Winton giant" in Greek); Pronounced win-oh-tie sepia
• Habitat: Australian woodlands
• Historical period: Middle Cretaceous period (100 million years ago)
• Size and weight: about 50 feet long and weighs about 10 tons
• Dieting: Plants
• Notable features: large size; four-legged pose; Probably armor plating on the back

For the past 75 years or so, Australia has been a relative wasteland for sauropod discoveries. That all changed in 2009 when it was announced that not one, but two new sauropod genera were announced: Diamantinasaurus and Wintonititan, an equal-sized titanosaurus represented by sparse fossil remains. Like most titanosaurs, Wintonitan may have had a basic layer of armor skin on its back to better deter the large hungry theropods in its Australian ecosystem. (As for how Titanosaurus first ended up in Australia, tens of millions of years ago, the continent was part of the giant terrestrial continent of Pangea.)

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Yongjinglong

• Name: Yongjinglong (Chinese for "Nagai Dragon"); Pronounced yon-jing-long
• Habitat: East Asian woodlands
• Historical period: Early Cretaceous (130 million to 125 million years ago)
• Size and weight: about 50-60 feet long and weighs about 10-15 tons
• Dieting: Plants
• Notable features: long neck and tail; Light armor plating

In addition to ceratopsians—horned, frilled dinosaurs native to North America and Eurasia—Titanosaurus is one of the most common fossil finds. Yongjingsaurus is typical of its breed, since it is "diagnosed" on the basis of part of the bone (equivalent to a shoulder blade, some ribs and a few vertebrae), with the complete absence of its head except for a few teeth. Like other titanosaurs, Yongjingosaurus, an early Cretaceous branch of the Late Jurassic giant sauropod dinosaurs, clumsily scrambles through the swamps of Asia in search of delicious vegetation.