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Herbivore dinosaurs...

Canada DinoFan83 Offline
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#83
( This post was last modified: 09-28-2020, 08:04 PM by DinoFan83 )

The fossil bearing content of the Kem Kem beds in North Africa is very famous for the plethora of large dinosaur fossils it produces; among the most famous specimens are giant predatory dinosaurs such as Carcharodontosaurus, Spinosaurus, Bahariasaurus, and Sauroniops. Less well known and much more sparse overall are its sauropods, with relatively few species being found and only 1 medium-large (following Greg Paul, 2019) sauropod (Paralititan) being named thus far.
However, there exist figured yet unnamed titanosaur specimens from the Kem Kem that suggest some of the largest land animals of all time were present in the environment, with the specimens in question being the midshaft of a humerus and the proximal end of an ulna. They may or may not be larger individuals of already known species, and may be either different types of titanosaur or conspecific, but one thing is for certain: both are gigantic.

The giant humerus:

This humeral shaft may possibly be the largest titanosaur humerus yet discovered. Discovered in 2008 and figured in Ibrahim (2016), the humerus is catalogued as FSAC-KK 01, and is said to be restored to a length of 1.5 meters based on what appears to be Paralititan's complete humerus.  
However, I'm not sure how they got it that short based on the Paralititan humerus; judging by the figures in the paper, the minimum midshaft width of FSAC-KK 01's humerus is slightly over 26 cm (about 26.03 to be more precise). Meanwhile, according to Gonzalez-Riga (2016), the minimum midshaft width of Paralititan's humerus is 23.4 cm, and the scalebars in Ibrahim (2016) are in agreement with this.
So judging by that, at least when based on Paralititan's humerus, FSAC-KK 01 is 1.88 meters long, beating the previous record holder I mentioned on this page earlier. And obviously, it'd be pretty big as well - the only question left is what to use as a base for it.
As for that, I think animals like Antarctosaurus and Alamosaurus would be reasonable bases for it, since the titanosaurs figured in the paper were described as similar to derived lithostrotians like Baurutitan, who in turn is related to the more complete Antarctosaurus and Alamosaurus.
First off, the Antarctosaurus base. The humerus of MACN 6904 is 107.9 cm long based on Ornithopsis' skeletal, and based on the estimations for the larger specimen FMNH 13019 in Mazzetta (2004), it would weigh about 14.4 tonnes assuming a 1.39 meter femur. Considering this, as well as Thomas Holtz's estimate of 18 meters, FSAC-KK 01 ends up at 31.4 meters and 76.2 tonnes based on Antarctosaurus wichmannianus, which is in the same general size class as the largest specimens of Antarctosaurus.
The Alamosaurus base would be similarly sized to that as well. The humerus of USNM 15560 is 1.36 meters long according to Gonzalez-Riga (2016), and Randomdinos estimates the similarly sized BIBE 45854 at 23.5 meters and 29 tonnes. Based on those, FSAC-KK 01 ends up at 32.5 meters and 76.6 tonnes, comparable to the biggest specimens of Alamosaurus.
Either way, it looks as though if these bases are reasonably accurate, this humerus is easily among the largest dinosaurs ever.

The giant ulna:

As stated previously, the humerus isn't the only giant titanosaur specimen from Kem Kem. There is also a very large proximal ulna (UCRC PV9) described in Ibrahim (2020), and it is 54 cm across the proximal end. It's not clear what this is closest to, so I'll tentatively use 3 relatively complete titanosaurs to estimate its general ballpark sizewise. And it stacks up very favorably against them, as can be seen below:

-Malawisaurus: 16.7 cm proximal ulna width, 3.25 tonnes following Palaeozoologist's estimate with some extra meat. Given those measurements and the length estimate of 11 meters, the giant ulna ends up at 35.6 meters long and 109.9 tonnes.

-Futalognkosaurus: 38.3 cm proximal ulna width based on SpinoInWonderland's skeletal, 38.1 tonnes following Benson (2014). Given those measurements and SpinoInWonderland's length estimate of 23.6 meters, the giant ulna ends up at 33.3 meters long and 106.8 tonnes.

-Antarctosaurus: 28.5cm proximal ulna width based on Ornithopsis' skeletal, 14.4 tonnes based on Mazzetta (2004), and 18 meters following Thomas Holtz. Given those measurements, the giant ulna ends up at 34.1 meters long and 98 tonnes.

All things considered, this animal appears to be absolutely enormous - it's very likely larger than FSAC-KK 01, and could plausibly surpass the 100 tonne mark. And yes, both were almost certainly larger than known specimens of Paralititan.
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Messages In This Thread
Herbivore dinosaurs... - Spalea - 09-27-2019, 09:42 AM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - Spalea - 09-27-2019, 09:51 AM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - Spalea - 09-27-2019, 09:58 AM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - Spalea - 09-27-2019, 10:05 AM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - Spalea - 09-27-2019, 10:15 AM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - Spalea - 09-27-2019, 03:30 PM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - Spalea - 09-28-2019, 02:22 AM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - DinoFan83 - 09-28-2019, 04:12 AM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - Spalea - 09-30-2019, 11:39 PM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - Spalea - 10-01-2019, 11:36 PM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - Spalea - 10-01-2019, 11:49 PM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - Spalea - 10-02-2019, 03:00 PM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - Spalea - 10-02-2019, 03:04 PM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - Spalea - 10-02-2019, 03:29 PM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - Spalea - 10-04-2019, 03:57 PM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - Spalea - 10-04-2019, 04:03 PM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - Spalea - 10-04-2019, 04:09 PM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - Spalea - 10-08-2019, 05:49 PM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - Spalea - 10-12-2019, 01:26 AM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - Spalea - 10-17-2019, 12:42 AM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - DinoFan83 - 10-22-2019, 03:55 AM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - Spalea - 10-23-2019, 04:14 PM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - Spalea - 10-24-2019, 10:54 AM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - Spalea - 10-28-2019, 01:21 AM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - Spalea - 10-29-2019, 02:33 AM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - DinoFan83 - 10-29-2019, 02:34 AM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - Spalea - 11-05-2019, 03:00 PM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - DinoFan83 - 11-05-2019, 08:08 PM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - DinoFan83 - 11-08-2019, 06:27 PM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - Spalea - 11-12-2019, 06:52 PM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - DinoFan83 - 11-13-2019, 07:56 PM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - Spalea - 11-14-2019, 07:12 PM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - Spalea - 11-14-2019, 07:22 PM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - DinoFan83 - 11-14-2019, 10:51 PM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - Spalea - 11-27-2019, 11:39 AM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - Spalea - 11-29-2019, 04:18 PM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - Spalea - 11-29-2019, 04:23 PM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - Spalea - 12-04-2019, 04:22 PM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - Spalea - 12-05-2019, 10:22 AM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - Spalea - 12-07-2019, 01:34 AM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - Spalea - 12-07-2019, 01:40 AM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - Spalea - 12-15-2019, 03:13 PM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - Spalea - 01-05-2020, 02:11 PM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - Spalea - 01-07-2020, 10:39 AM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - Spalea - 01-07-2020, 10:58 AM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - Spalea - 01-07-2020, 11:12 AM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - Spalea - 01-07-2020, 11:26 AM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - Spalea - 01-07-2020, 11:37 AM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - DinoFan83 - 01-07-2020, 07:29 PM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - Spalea - 01-07-2020, 08:23 PM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - Spalea - 01-08-2020, 10:41 AM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - Spalea - 01-08-2020, 11:38 AM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - Spalea - 01-15-2020, 11:03 AM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - Spalea - 01-15-2020, 04:52 PM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - Spalea - 01-15-2020, 05:02 PM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - Spalea - 01-16-2020, 01:02 AM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - Spalea - 01-26-2020, 05:56 PM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - Spalea - 01-30-2020, 12:14 PM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - Spalea - 02-07-2020, 01:26 AM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - Spalea - 02-12-2020, 04:10 PM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - Spalea - 03-05-2020, 02:06 AM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - Spalea - 03-12-2020, 01:46 AM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - Spalea - 03-25-2020, 11:05 PM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - Panthera10 - 03-25-2020, 11:29 PM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - Spalea - 03-30-2020, 01:43 AM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - Spalea - 03-31-2020, 10:38 PM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - Spalea - 04-03-2020, 06:38 PM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - Spalea - 04-25-2020, 11:26 PM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - Spalea - 04-26-2020, 10:37 AM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - Spalea - 05-06-2020, 02:51 PM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - Spalea - 05-07-2020, 11:55 AM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - Spalea - 05-12-2020, 08:37 AM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - Spalea - 05-12-2020, 08:40 AM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - Spalea - 05-30-2020, 03:30 AM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - Spalea - 06-03-2020, 10:46 AM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - DinoFan83 - 07-05-2020, 07:58 AM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - Spalea - 07-15-2020, 02:02 AM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - DinoFan83 - 07-20-2020, 07:59 AM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - DinoFan83 - 08-16-2020, 07:18 PM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - DinoFan83 - 08-25-2020, 11:41 PM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - Spalea - 09-04-2020, 03:26 PM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - Spalea - 09-18-2020, 11:20 AM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - DinoFan83 - 09-28-2020, 08:19 AM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - Spalea - 10-20-2020, 01:34 PM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - DinoFan83 - 01-15-2021, 06:37 PM
RE: Herbivore dinosaurs... - DinoFan83 - 03-01-2021, 07:26 AM



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