‘Biggest Dinosaur Ever’ Discovered

It’s not exactly small at 30feet long (9 meters), but you might want to call this newlyidentified dinosaur the littlest giant.

Scientists in Argentina on Wednesday announced the discoveryof the fossilized remains of a unique member of the famous long-necked, plant-munching dinosaurs known as sauropods, the largest land creatures in Earth’s history. The dinosaur, named Leinkupal laticauda, may be the smallestof the sauropod family called diplodocids, typified by thewell-known Diplodocus, which lived in North America, they said. It also is the first of them found in South America. Itlived about 140 million years ago, millions of years afterscientists had previously thought diplodocids had disappeared, according to Argentine paleontologist Pablo Gallina, one of theresearchers.

Argentine paleontologist Pablo Gallina casts a shadow on a projector screen showing the found bones of a newly identified South American dinosaur named Leinkupal laticauda in Buenos Aires May 15, 2014.

Two Qianzhousaurus sinensis individuals are pictured hunting in this undated handout artist’s rendering. The larger one is chasing a small feathered dinosaur called Nankangia and the smaller is eating a lizard. Scientists on Wednesday identified a new member of Tyrannosaurus rex’s family, a beast named Qianzhousaurus sinensis that was up to 30 feet (9 meters) long and stalked China at the very end of the age of dinosaurs

The skull of Qianzhousaurus sinensis (upper jaw in left lateral view and lower jaw in reversed right lateral view) is pictured in this undated handout photo. Scientists on Wednesday identified a new member of Tyrannosaurus rex’s family, a beast named Qianzhousaurus sinensis that was up to 30 feet (9 meters) long and stalked China at the very end of the age of dinosaurs.

Argentine paleontologist Pablo Gallina casts a shadow on a projector screen showing an illustration by Jorge Antonio Gonzalez of newly identified South American dinosaur Leinkupal laticauda in Buenos Aires May 15, 2014.