The remains of Moyenisauropus lusitanicus measure 25 meters in length by another 12 meters in height and were found by chance in the municipality of Alvaiázere.
A team of researchers found in Portugal fossil remains of the “largest dinosaur in the history of the Iberian Peninsula“. The discovery was announced this Friday in a publication of the scientific journal “Historical Biology“.
“It measures about 25 meters long by another 12 meters high and went found by chance when the owner of a house was preparing to do some work in his garden in the municipality of Alvaiazerea Portuguese town belonging to the district of Leiría”, detailed the work of the researchers.
They also specified: “They go back to a division of the geological time scale called Lower Jurassicwhich allows identifying a new species of dinosaur, Moyenisauropus lusitanicus“, expanded the study published by the magazine.
They noted that the remains are estimated to date back to 195 million years. “The oldest dinosaur footprints found in Portugal they date back 170 million years and they were in a region not very far away, the Serra d’Aire (Sierra de Aire), a mountain system, located in the center of Portugal,” they added.
Finally they explained about the specifications of the dinosaur: “These are animals”crocodilemorphs“, an important group of sauropsids what they leave footprints on what was then a vast coastal plain and today it is the interior of the central Portugal (Alvaiázere is about sixty kilometers north of Fátima), representing various related extinct forms.”
Source: Ambito
