Rukwatitan
"Rukwa titan"
Type species Rukwatitan bisepultus
- Lived
- 101 to 72 million years ago, Late Cretaceous
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Group
- Sauropods
- Found in
- Tanzania
- Named by
- Gorscak et al. 2014
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
90 million years ago
Habitat
Branching river channels crossed a broad plain in what is now Tanzania. The Galula Formation also contains Shingopana and, in older layers, Mnyamawamtuka.
Field notes
About Rukwatitan
What it was like
Rukwatitan was a titanosaur, a long-necked, four-legged plant eater, known from backbones, ribs and limb bones. Its front legs were long.
Its closest relatives remain uncertain; later studies have placed it on different branches of the titanosaur family tree.
Its world
It lived in the Cretaceous in what is now Tanzania. Its bones come from the Galula Formation, which also preserves Shingopana and, in older layers, Mnyamawamtuka.
How it was found
Gorscak and colleagues named Rukwatitan in 2014. Its species name means "twice buried": some bones were first buried in floodplain mud, then moved and buried again by a river channel.
Field gallery
More views of Rukwatitan
Scenes reconstructed from the available fossil evidence.
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 Rukwatitan.
The evidence
The science behind Rukwatitan
Which parts of the picture come from its own bones, and which come from its relatives.
From its own fossils
- The type skeleton preserves neck and tail vertebrae, part of a back vertebra, ribs, shoulder bones, an upper arm, part of a forearm and parts of the pelvis.
- The upper arm bone of the type skeleton is expanded at the top, with strong ridges, and has a relatively slender shaft with an almost square cross-section, a deep muscle attachment hollow and a weakly widened lower end.
- A second upper arm bone from a different site has been referred to it.
Borrowed from relatives
- The missing head is restored by comparison with Tapuiasaurus, the front of the neck with Futalognkosaurus, and the hind legs, feet and tail end with Mnyamawamtuka.
- The missing wrist and hand follow the more distant Camarasaurus and Apatosaurus.
Still unknown
- The shape of its skull and teeth.
- Its closest relatives. A later study found that its position changes with the method of analysis, and noted that its rocks may be younger than first thought.
- Its complete body length.
Discovery timeline
- 2014Named itGorscak et al.
- 2017Same rocksGorscak et al.
- 2019Family treeGorscak & O’Connor
Key papers
The research behind what we know of Rukwatitan
Named it
Named Rukwatitan from a partial skeleton, described its distinctive upper arm bone and showed how a river moved and reburied some of its bones.
The basal titanosaurianRukwatitan bisepultus(Dinosauria, Sauropoda) from the middle Cretaceous Galula Formation, Rukwa Rift Basin, southwestern Tanzania. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 34: 1133-1154
Read the paper : The basal titanosaurianRukwatitan bisepultus(Dinosauria, Sauropoda) from the middle Cretaceous Galula Formation, Rukwa Rift Basin, southwestern Tanzania (opens in a new tab)Same rocks
Named Shingopana and showed that titanosaurs from southern Africa belonged to several different branches of the family tree.
The second titanosaurian (Dinosauria: Sauropoda) from the middle Cretaceous Galula Formation, southwestern Tanzania, with remarks on African titanosaurian diversity. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 37: e1343250
Read the paper : The second titanosaurian (Dinosauria: Sauropoda) from the middle Cretaceous Galula Formation, southwestern Tanzania, with remarks on African titanosaurian diversity (opens in a new tab)Family tree
Found that Mnyamawamtuka was a distant relative of Rukwatitan and Shingopana and came from older layers of the Galula Formation.
A new African Titanosaurian Sauropod Dinosaur from the middle Cretaceous Galula Formation (Mtuka Member), Rukwa Rift Basin, Southwestern Tanzania. PLOS ONE 14: e0211412
Read the paper : A new African Titanosaurian Sauropod Dinosaur from the middle Cretaceous Galula Formation (Mtuka Member), Rukwa Rift Basin, Southwestern Tanzania (opens in a new tab)
Close relatives
Other members of Rinconsauria
Sources: Wikidata