Sarmientosaurus by Hyrotrioskjan on DeviantArt (original) (raw)

Published: May 7, 2016

Description

You don't get to see a new titanosaur skull every day. These animals are extremely obscure in terms of their facial anatomy and every little piece of skull bone has a huge scientific value.
In the case of Sarmientosaurus the patagonian paleontologists were extremely lucky, they discovered a complete skull and a few cervical vertebra.
When working on skull-less titanosaurs we have now another reference to look at
This speculative reconstruction is based on the preserved skull but also taxa which are closely related to Sarmientosaurus, for example Malawisaurus and Tapuiasaurus.

The man standing next to this 12 m long beast is a Tehuelche, a member of a indigenous tribe which once roamed all Patagonia and is now
nearly exclusively found in the province Chubut, where Sarmientosaurus was uncovered.

See more here, I made also a quick portrait:
www.eartharchives.org/articles…

Image size

3726x1912px 1.03 MB