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Abstract
Body masses of some South American dinosaurs are estimated. The sauropod Argentinosaurus huinculensis reached 73 tonnes, and therefore, is the largest of all land animals whose mass has been rigorously obtained. Another sauropod, Antarctosaurus giganteus, was the second largest, at nearly 69 tonnes, while Antarctosaurus wichmannianus reached 34 tonnes. A third sauropod, the bizarre-looking Amargasaurus cazaui, was much smaller, with a body mass of only 2.5 tonnes. Among theropods, the body mass of the strangely looking, horned Carnotaurus sastrei, was volumetrically estimated at 1.5 tonnes, while allometric equations on limb measurements yielded overestimations. Moreover, the holotype specimen of Giganotosaurus carolinii (MUCPv-CH-1) was about as large as the average-sized Tyrannosaurus rex, and only marginally smaller than “Sueâ€, the largest specimen. However, a new dentary of Giganotosaurus (MUCPv-95) is 8% longer than that of the holotype. Assuming geometric similarity, that individual must have had a body mass above 8 tonnes and hence must have been the largest theropod ever found.
Acknowledgements
The authors thanks R.E. Blanco for his assistance during body mass calculation. R.McN. Alexander and P.M. Barrett gave us useful advice and made comments on earlier versions of the manuscript. We are indebted to S.F. VizcaÃno and other staff from La Plata Museum, and J.F. Bonaparte from the Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales for their help in measuring the specimens. L. Quagliotto kindly provided us with the photographs of . L. Salgado and R.A. Coria warned one of us (G.V.M.) about the possibility that the “tibia†of the holotype of Argentinosaurus was actually a fibula.
Notes
p2christiansen@zmuc.ku.dk
mazzetta@fcien.edu.uy
mazzetta@fcien.edu.uy
Institutional abbreviations: CN, Zoology Museum, Copenhagen University; FMNH, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, USA; HMN, Museum für Naturkunde der Humboldt Universität, Berlin, Germany; MACN, Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales “Bernardino Rivadaviaâ€, Buenos Aires, Argentina; MLP-DP (and also MLP), Departamento CientÃfico de PaleontologÃa de Vertebrados of the Museo de La Plata, La Plata, Argentina; MUCPv-CH, Museo de GeologÃa y PaleontologÃa de la Universidad Nacional del Comahue, PaleontologÃa de Vertebrados, El Chocón collection, Neuquén, Argentina; PVPH, Museo Municipal “Carmen Funesâ€, Plaza Huincul, Neuquén, Argentina.
