On May 19, at the Museum Night, an exhibit with the remains of a giant dinosaur that lived on the Earth more than 100 million years ago will be held at TSU. The titanosaurus, whose name is still kept secret, was found by the paleontologists of TSU and the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences and turned out to be a new species of the ancient lizards.
- The remains of the dinosaur were found in Shestakovo-1 in the Kemerovo Region, - says Stepan Ivantsov, a researcher at the TSU Laboratory of Mesozoic and Cenozoic Continental Ecosystems. - The size of the sacrum of the animal indicates that it was an adult specimen about 20 meters long and it weighed about 40 tons weights.
Titanosaurs belong to the suborder of sauropods - giant herbivorous dinosaurs. This representative of the ancient lizards had a long neck, which allowed ripping leaves from tall trees, and a long tail that served as a counterweight.
In the process of studying bone remains, paleontologists have established that their discovery is a new species of titanosaurs. It is distinguished by its structural features: the sacral ribs of the lizard are arranged in the form of a star and converge towards the centre, and there is also no vertebral articulation on the neural arc. Ancient animals with such a skeletal structure had not been found in any country in the world.
The name that paleontologists gave to the new species has not yet been disclosed. It will be announced after the publication of a scientific article on the description of the Siberian representative of the titanosaurs.
Upon completion of the study of the ancient find, it was decided to install a unique exhibit not in the museum, but in the place of free access in the hall of the TSU Cultural Center, where a large number of people can see it. At the opening of the exposition, visitors will meet with two more ancient pangolins - Psittacosaurus and Kileskus, with whom it will be possible to make a joint photo.
Time: The Night at the Museum and the opening of the exposition will be at 20.00 on the 19th of May.
Venue: the TSU’s main building (36 Lenin Ave.), 2nd floor, Hall of the Culture Centre.
Titanosaurs or titanosaurids are a genus of herbivorous dinosaur sauropods that lived in the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods in present-day Asia (India), Africa (Madagascar), Europe (France) and South America (Argentina). The largest specimens could reach a length of 35-40 meters and weigh up to 100 tons. At the same time, they had fairly small teeth (4-6 cm), which were used to tear off leaves.