Open Paleo

Soriatitan

Royo-Torres et al., 2017 SOH-ree-yah-TIE-tuhn

Named after Soria province, Spain, where the fossils were found, combined with Greek titan, "giant" — means "Soria titan"

132.6–121.4 million years ago Hauterivian–Barremian, Early Cretaceous
Early Cretaceous stages

Soriatitan is a genus of brachiosaurid sauropod from the Early Cretaceous of Spain. It is known from one species, S. golmayensis, found in the Golmayo Formation. It lived between 130 and 125 million years ago, and was identified by a team of paleontologists in Spain.

Diagnosis

  1. Caudal ribs with pointed anterior ridge in middle
  2. Posterior caudal vertebra with large postzygapophyses longer than anteroposterior spine length
  3. Lateral fossa in postzygapophyses in posterior caudal vertebra
  4. Large ventral rectangular ridge below preacetabular process of ilium
  5. Ischiadic peduncle in ilium three times longer lateromedially than anteroposteriorly
  6. Pubic peduncle and distal shaft in ischia of same length
  7. Two lateral ridges in lateral area of deltopectoral crest of humerus

Species

Soriatitan golmayensis Royo-Torres et al., 2017

Type species

Named for Golmayo, the municipality in Soria province, Spain, near which the only known specimen was found in the Golmayo Formation.

Holotype
MNS 2001/122.132, MNS 2001/122.285, MNS 2001/122.405, MNS 2001/122.586, MNS 2001/122.611, MNS 2001/122.613, MNS 2001/122.695, MNS 2001/122.696, MNS 2001/122.700, MNS 2001/122.701, MNS 2001/122.703, MNS 2001/122.741, MNS 2001/122.743, MNS 2001/122.745, MNS 2001/122.784, MNS 2001/122.793, MNS 2001/122.799, MNS 2001/122.1056, MNS 2001/122.1232, MNS 2001/122.1233, MNS 2001/122.1236, MNS 2001/122.1237, MNS 2001/122.1238, MNS 2001/122.1240 , Museo Numantino de Soria
Material
One tooth, three dorsal vertebrae with ribs, three sacral fragments, five caudal centra, two caudal vertebral spines, one chevron, humerus, radius, ulna, two ilia, two ischia, pubis fragment, femur
Notes
The teeth belong to the holotype but were never given a sub-number; the describing paper cites them under the bare accession lot MNS 2001/122, which also covers material of other taxa from the same quarry, so they have no individual numbers of their own.
Horizon
Golmayo Formation, Hauterivian–Barremian, Early Cretaceous , 132.6–121.4 million years ago
Locality
Zorralbo I, Soria, Spain Royo-Torres and colleagues (2017) give the site as "UTM coordinates 30TWM394238"; the coordinate is the center of that 100 m square.

References

  1. Royo-Torres, R.; Fuentes, C.; Meijide, M.; Meijide Fuentes, F.; Meijide Fuentes, M. (2017). A new Brachiosauridae Sauropod dinosaur from the lower Cretaceous of Europe (Soria Province, Spain). Cretaceous Research 80: 38-55. Elsevier BV. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2017.08.012 royo-torres2017a
  2. Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Sauropods. Princeton University Press.

    Source of the hip height estimate.

    jones2026b