New sauropod finds in the news

[bh480@scn.org]

From: Ben Creisler  bh480@scn.org

In case these 2 news items have not been mentioned here:

Largest European Dinosaur Found
http://www.news24.com/News24/Technology/News/0,,2-13-
1443_1554441,00.html
Dinosaur bones unearthed
08/07/2004 07:25 - (SA) 
Riodeva - The bones of a vast animal that may have munched 
on trees in what is now a semi-desert region of eastern 
Spain have turned up in a palaeontological dig here. 
Researchers have found a humerus bone from the upper 
foreleg measuring 1.85 metres and weighing 150kg 
indicating it came from an animal more than 30 metres in 
length and weighing 50 tons, the equivalent of up to seven 
male elephants. 
Scientists believe the bones came from a Sauropod, a 
lizard-like dinosaur that lived in the Cretaceous age from 
145 to 65 million years BC. 
If their hunch is confirmed, it would be the largest 
dinosaur discovered in Europe, and possibly almost as big 
as champion heavyweights such as Argentinausorus, found in 
Patagonia, which from the evidence of a foot and three 
ribs was probably longer than 35 metres. 
The four-legged Sauropods, which had tiny brains, vast 
guts and long necks and tails, are believed to have been 
vegetarians, munching on large trees the way people crunch 
celery sticks. 
Although Spain used to be covered with dense forest, the 
place where the bones were discovered is a rocky, deserted 
wasteland of worked-out mines and abandoned villages. For 
the non-initiated, the Riodeva dig resembles nothing more 
exciting than a heap of stones. 
Palaeontologists Alberto Cobos and Rafael Royo found the 
bones last year after tramping for days across the 
foothills of Teruel. 
"The discovery is important because it is the most 
complete dinosaur we have found," said Luis Alcala, 
president of the palaeontological laboratory in Teruel, 
the nearest town. 
"It is of gigantic size, the biggest in Europe, and one of 
the biggest in the world," Alcala added. "We think we are 
in the face of something new, certainly a species unknown 
until now." 
The laboratory is attached to Dinopolis, a dinosaur theme 
park opened in 2001. 
No one can say how long it will take to identify and 
recover the scattered remains of the Sauropod. 
"It took three months of painstaking work by three people 
to extract, clean and assemble the pieces of the humerus, 
Alcala said. 
At the site, where excavations are continuing, 
palaeontologist Rafael Royo is exploring what he thinks is 
a talus bone from the animal's lower leg. 
But a bigger prize may be in the offing. "I have an 
intuition that we will find the head," he said. 

New Montana Sauropod Excavated
http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/articles/2004/07/08/ne
ws/dinosaubzbigs.txt
Scientists to excavation apparent new dinosaur specimen
Scientists will begin excavating a dinosaur next week near 
Grass Range that could be an as-yet undocumented species 
that roamed Earth more than 80 million years before 
Tyrannosaurus rex.

A landowner discovered the dinosaur specimen decades ago 
and has carefully dug out the bones, Dixie Stordahl, 
education director for the Dinosaur Field Station in 
Malta, said Wednesday in a telephone interview. The 
station is a nonprofit organization that researches 
dinosaurs.
The name of the landowner and the location of the site 
were not released.

The landowner stored the bones in buckets while keeping 
notes of precisely where the specimens came from before 
eventually contacting the station last year to ask for 
help.

When DFS paleontologist Nate Murphy looked over some of 
the bones, he determined they didn't come from a species 
known to scientists.

"The dorsal vertebrae is different than others that we've 
read about," Stordahl said.
The dinosaur was likely a sauropod -- one of a group of 
big, long-necked plant eaters that includes apatosaurus 
and brachiosaurus.

But the large dorsal vertebrae at the base of the 
dinosaur's neck don't match either of those species or any 
other known sauropod.

"The vertebrae is about as big as (a man's) chest," 
Stordahl said.

Murphy has invited Lucio Ibiricu and Marcelo Luna, 
paleontologists from the University of Patagonia in San 
Juan, Argentina, to help with the excavation and analysis 
of the dinosaur, Stordahl said.

Patagonia is rich in sauropods and the two scientists' 
expertise will be invaluable in the project.

Volunteers will also help with the excavation, which is 
scheduled to last a week.

The specimen came from the Morrison formation, a layer of 
rock that dates to about 150 million years ago.

The Argentine scientists will stay for three weeks, 
including a week of analysis on the bones and another week 
to prospect for more dinosaurs.