A team from the National Scientific and Technical Research Council discovered…
A team from the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET) announced the major discovery of a titanosaur nest dating back approximately 80 million years.
The discovery took place in Brazil, where eggs measuring 12 centimeters in diameter were found.
The organization reported that, working alongside Brazilian paleontologists and geologists, the scientists found the first record of nesting by titanosaurs—a group that includes “the largest dinosaur species”—in the Brazilian state of Tocantins.
This research, published in the Nature group journal Scientific Reports, was led by Lucas Fiorelli, Martín Hechenleitner, and Agustín Martinelli—CONICET researchers based at the Regional Research Center and the “Bernardino Rivadavia” Argentine Museum of Natural Sciences.
Fiorelli explained that “titanosaurs were highly diverse herbivorous dinosaurs widely distributed across all continents during the Cretaceous period (which began about 145 million years ago and ended around 66 million years ago), though they showed greater diversity in South America, particularly in Argentina and Brazil.”
Researchers believe the success of titanosaurs was likely due to various physiological and ecological factors, as well as a series of morphological traits acquired throughout their evolutionary history.
However, Fiorelli noted that nesting behavior in ancient environments “was key” to the discovery.
While nesting sites have been found worldwide—with notable records in Spain, France, Romania, and India—the discovery of several nests in the Cretaceous strata of Uberaba (the northernmost site in South America) “provides clear evidence of the first colonial nesting area for titanosaur dinosaurs in Brazil,” Martinelli stated. Scientists stated that this species reached lengths of up to 25 meters, in contrast to the size of its eggs, which were approximately 12 centimeters in diameter.
“There is actually a physical and physiological limit to egg size,” Fiorelli noted regarding the striking size.
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