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Paralititan, Late CretaceousBaharîje Formation, Algeria · named 2001
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Paralititan

pa-RAL-ih-TIE-tan

"tidal giant"

Lived
101 to 94 million years ago, Late Cretaceous
Diet
Herbivore
Length
about 28 m (92 ft)
Group
Sauropods
Found in
Algeria and Egypt
Named by
Smith et al. 2001

Size comparison

To scale

Where its fossils were found

The evidence

Today

2 finds

95 million years ago

Map: C. R. Scotese, PALEOMAP

Habitat

Vegetated tidal flats and slow-moving channels bordered a mangrove coast in what is now Egypt. Spinosaurus, Bahariasaurus and Aegyptosaurus are known from the same coastal rocks.

Field notes

About Paralititan

What it was like

Paralititan was a titanosaur, a long-necked plant eater, and one of the biggest animals of its time. It may have reached about 28 meters (92 feet) long, though the estimate rests on a few bones, including a huge upper arm bone.

Its world

It lived about 101 to 94 million years ago, in the Late Cretaceous, in what is now Egypt. Its world was a coast of tidal flats and mangrove-like swamps, which gave it its name. It shared that coast with some of the largest predators ever found, including Spinosaurus and Bahariasaurus, and with the smaller hunter Deltadromeus and the sauropod Aegyptosaurus.

How it was found

Smith and colleagues named Paralititan in 2001, after an expedition returned to the desert rocks of the Baharîje Formation, where German collectors had worked almost a century earlier.

Field gallery

More views of Paralititan

Scenes reconstructed from the available fossil evidence.

Paralititan in its habitat, photo 1

1 of 3

Lived alongside

Found in the same rock formations

A rock formation can hold fossils laid down millions of years apart, so not every animal here met Paralititan.

The evidence

The science behind Paralititan

Which parts of the picture come from its own bones, and which come from its relatives.

From its own fossils

  • Huge upper arm bones and shoulder blades anchor its reconstruction as a heavily built titanosaur.
  • The partial skeleton also includes ribs, vertebrae near the pelvis and tail base, and a hand bone.

Borrowed from relatives

  • Tapuiasaurus supplies a comparison for the missing head: a low, elongated skull with a narrow muzzle.
  • Dreadnoughtus helps restore the missing neck, hind limbs and body outline.
  • Other titanosaurs guide the padded feet and forefeet without projecting claws.

Still unknown

  • Its skull shape and full neck length.
  • Its exact weight and body proportions.
  • Its skin color and the arrangement of its hind toes.

Often drawn wrong

  • Elephant-like fans of equal toenails on the forefeet ignore the strongly reduced fingers of titanosaurs.
  • A nostril raised like a snorkel on top of the head follows an outdated view of sauropods.

Discovery timeline

  1. 2001Named itSmith et al.
  2. 2011Close relativeZaher et al.
  3. 2014Close relativeLacovara et al.
  4. 2016Close relativeGonzález Riga et al.

Key papers

The research behind what we know of Paralititan

Close relatives

Other members of Lithostrotia

Sources: Wikidata