Welcome to Abdarainurus
Name Definition
Abdrant Nuru tail
Name Given By
Averianov and Lopatin, 2020
Location
Alagteeg Formation of Mongolia
Classification
Dinosauria, Saurischia, Sauropodomorpha, Sauropoda, Titanosauria
Size
Estimated to be about 4 meters tall (13.1 ft) and 13 meters long (42.6 ft)
Temporal Range
Santonian - Campanian ages of the late Cretaceous, 85 - 72.1 million years ago
Ecological niche
Large herbivore with size and bulk as defense
Species/Sub Species
A. barsboldi
Diet
Because the skull is unknown, Abdarainurus’ exact diet is unknown, but it was probably a herbivore
Introduction
Abdarainurus is a genus of titanosaurian sauropods that lived in Mongolia during the late Cretaceous. Abdarainurus was named after the Abdrant Nuru fossil site that it was discovered in. While it is known now as an indeterminate titanosaur, it may possibly be the first titanosaur discovered of a yet unknown group of Asian macronarians (sauropods with a large nasal opening or external naris) as the vertebrae discovered of Abdarainurus are different from most other late Cretaceous titanosaurs from Asia. Abdarainurus isn’t known from many remains and the genus is only represented by eight front tail vertebrae, a middle tail vertebra, and a few chevrons (a series of bones under the tail that occurs in many reptiles and dinosaurs). The holotype’s fossils were originally discovered in Abdrant Nuru during a Soviet/Mongolian palaeontological expedition and the fossils were excavated by V. P. Tverdokhlebov from Saratov State University in Russia. The fossils were unprepared for at least 30 years until in 2000 when palaeontologist Andrei Podlesnow convinced other palaeontologists it was fossils of a new genus of titanosaur. The species name, Abdarainurus barsboldi, was coined in 2020. Abdarainurus was discovered in the Abdrant Nuru locality of the Alagteeg Formation in Mongolia and lived with the ankylosaurid Pinacosaurus, the hadrosauroid Plesiohadros, the sheep-sized ceratopsian Protoceratops, as well as an indeterminate turtle from the family Trionychidae.
Sources:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdarainurus
- http://www.prehistoric-wildlife.com/species/a/abdarainurus.html