Rapetosaurus
Rapetosaurus is a genus of sauropod dinosaur. It lived in what is now Madagascar from 70 to 66 million years ago, at the end of the Cretaceous period. Only one species, Rapetosaurus krausei, has been found. Like other sauropods, Rapetosaurus was a quadrupedal herbivore.
| Rapetosaurus | |
|---|---|
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| Juvenile skeleton, Field Museum of Natural History | |
Scientific classification 
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| Unrecognized taxon (fix): | Bagualosauria |
| Family: | Saltasauridae |
| Subfamily: | Saltasaurinae |
| Genus: | Rapetosaurus Curry Rogers & Forster, 2001 |
| Species: | R. krausei
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| Binomial name | |
| Rapetosaurus krausei Curry Rogers & Forster, 2001
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The discovery of Rapetosaurus was the first time a titanosaur had been recovered with an almost perfectly intact skeleton, complete with skull.[1] It has helped to clarify some difficult issues in this large group of sauropod dinosaurs. It provides a baseline for the reconstruction of other titanosaurs that are known only from partial remains.
By the early part of the Upper Cretaceous all sauropods, except the titanosaurs, were extinct. The titanosaurs were the dominant herbivores of the Upper Cretaceous on the southern continents which made up Gondwana. Their reign was cut short by the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event.
Juvenile
The specimen discovered was a juvenile.[2][3] It is 8 metres (26 ft) from head to tail, and "probably weighed about as much as an elephant", according to Kristina Curry Rogers. An adult would have been about twice as long (15 metres (49 ft) in length), which is still less than half the length of its gigantic kin, like Argentinosaurus and Paralititan.
Rapetosaurus Media
Rapetosaurus restoration
Skeletal reconstruction of R. krausei, scaled as juvenile specimen FMNH PR 2209.
Field Museum mount in side view
Mounted Majungasaurus and Rapetosaurus
Restoration of two Majungasaurus chasing Rapetosaurus
References
- ↑ Parsell D.L. 2001. Skeleton of new dinosaur 'titan' found in Madagascar. National Geographic News. [1]
- ↑ Rogers, Kristina Curry & Forster, Catherine A. 2001. The last of the dinosaur titans: a new sauropod from Madagascar. Nature 412, 530–534.
- ↑ Rogers, Kristina Curry & Forster, Catherine A. 2004. The skull of Rapetosaurus krausei (Sauropoda: Titanosauria) from the late Cretaceous of Madagascar. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 24(1), 121–144. [2]