Abdarainurus

Abdarainurus (meaning "Abdrant Nuru tail" after the holotype locality) is a genus of titanosaur dinosaur from the Alagteeg Formation in Mongolia. The type and only species is Abdarainurus barsboldi. Currently seen as an indeterminate titanosaur, it may possibly represent a previously unknown lineage of Asian macronarians.[1] Abdarainurus is not known from many remains; it is only known from eight front tail vertebrae and a middle tail vertebra and several chevrons. Based on the few remains, estimates for the length of Abdarainurus put it at about 13 meters.

Hypothetical reconstruction/size comparison of Abdarainurus with human for reference.

Abdarainurus
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous 85 Ma
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Clade: Saurischia
Suborder: Sauropodomorpha
Clade: Sauropoda
Clade: Titanosauria
Genus: Abdarainurus
Averianov & Lopatin, 2020
Type species
Abdarainurus barsboldi
Averianov & Lopatin, 2020

Discovery and naming

The holotype was discovered in 1970 in Abdrant Nuru, hence the genus name. The fossils were left unprepared until at least 2000, when paleontologist Andrei Podlesnow revealed that they probably belonged to a new genus of sauropod.

Paleoecology

Abdarainurus was discovered in the Alagteeg Formation of Mongolia and coexisted with the ankylosaur Pinacosaurus sp. and an unnamed turtle from the Trionychidae family, which still exists today.

References

  1. Alexander Averianov; Alexey Lopatin (2020). "An unusual new sauropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. doi:10.1080/14772019.2020.1716402.


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