Open Paleo

Angolatitan

Mateus et al., 2011 an-GO-luh-TIE-tan

Named after Angola where the fossils were found, combined with Latin/Greek 'titan' meaning 'giant'; meaning 'Angolan giant'

89.8–85.7 million years ago Coniacian, Late Cretaceous
Late Cretaceous stages

Angolatitan is a genus of titanosauriform sauropod dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous. It is also the first non-avian dinosaur discovered in Angola. The genus contains a single species, Angolatitan adamastor, known from a partial right forelimb. Angolatitan was a relict form of its time; it was a Late Cretaceous basal titanosauriform, when more derived titanosaurs were far more common.

Diagnosis

  1. Posteroventral eminence in scapula in the proximal one-quarter, anterior to the acromial ridge
  2. Acute medioproximal margin of humerus due to a triangular lateral projection
  3. Rectangular lateral corner of proximal humerus
  4. Proximal outline of the ulna with expanded anteromedial ridge (process) constricted at base, nearly twice the length of the lateral process
  5. Posterior facet of the distal epiphysis of metacarpal I with two small splint-like projections

Species

Angolatitan adamastor Mateus et al., 2011

Type species

Derived from Adamastor, a mythological sea monster that represented the dangers Portuguese sailors faced in the southern Atlantic, a reference to Angola's history as a Portuguese colony until 1975.

Holotype
MGUAN-PA-003 , Museu de Geologia da Universidade Agostinho Neto
Material
Partial right forelimb: scapula, humerus, ulna, radius, and metacarpals I, III, and IV
Horizon
Tadi Bed, Itombe Formation, Coniacian, Late Cretaceous , 89.8–85.7 million years ago Covers every bed that may have yielded the type specimen.
Locality
Tadi, Bengo, Angola Mateus and colleagues (2011) give the horizon as the late Turonian Tadi Beds of the Itombe Formation; Mateus and colleagues (2019) date the Iembe locality Coniacian on an ammonite, naming neither the bed nor the formation, so the Coniacian falls outside the beds' own dating.

References

  1. Mateus, O.; Jacobs, L. L.; Schulp, A. S.; Polcyn, M. J.; Tavares, T. S.; Buta Neto, A.; Morais, M. L.; Antunes, M. T. (2011). Angolatitan adamastor, a new sauropod dinosaur and the first record from Angola. Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências 83(1): 221-233. FapUNIFESP (SciELO). doi:10.1590/s0001-37652011000100012 mateus2011a
  2. Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Sauropods. Princeton University Press.

    Source of the body length, mass, and hip height estimates.

    jones2026b
  3. Mateus, O.; Callapez, P. M.; Polcyn, M. J.; Schulp, A. S.; Gonçalves, A. O.; Jacobs, L. L. (2019). The fossil record of biodiversity in Angola through time: a paleontological perspective. Biodiversity of Angola (Huntley, B. J.; Russo, V.; Lages, F.; Ferrand, N., eds.) 53-76. Springer International Publishing. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-03083-4_4

    Reports the Iembe locality as Coniacian after the discovery of the ammonite Protexanites there.

    mateus2019a