Futalognkosaurus recon Mk. VII

Yes, there is a seventh version! Just when you thought it was safe to go to the museum

Corrections since the last version: massively overhauled hips, based on new photos from a direct frontal view and a rear/upper/side view; a new rear view of the first caudal; revision of the caudal's profile and deepening of the posterior dorsals (based on photo evidence) to match the tall sacral spines... well, tall for a titanosaur anyway. It's a bit of a shock how wrong my previous interpretation of the pelvis was, but then again I didn't have any good front or side view photos of the thing to work from in those days.

As a purely cosmetic change I also moved the text around to allow both the title and the skeletal to be bigger than in the last version.

Futalognkosaurus dukei (Calvo, et. al. 2007)

Taxonomy: Saurischia; Sauropodomorpha; Sauropoda; Macronaria; Titanosauria; Lognkosauria

Meaning of name: "Great Chief Lizard of Duke Energy Company"

Time: Late Cretaceous (Turonian-Coniacian epochs, ~ 90-87 million years ago)

Length: ~30m (100ft)
Probable Mass: ~ 65-70 tons

Hailing from Late Cretaceous Argentina, Futalognkosaurus dukei was one of the most massive dinosaurs ever known, with the deepest neck on record and a colossal pelvis exceeding 2m at its widest point. It's also the most complete giant titanosaur known, though due to the current lack of reliable measurements it's hard to tell just how "giant" the entire animal was. My skeletal reconstruction is done based on extensive cross-scaling using the best known unpublished photos [link] and verifying the most reliable of the published measurements with the sizes of the people in said photos.

There were three specimens of Futalognkosaurus found at the site, which was on the edge of Barreales Lake. Aside from the type specimen depicted here, the other two individuals are smaller and probably immature. Strangely enough, they apparently include arm and leg material which still has yet to be published, including at least one complete humerus: [link] . As one might expect, the only known photos of these are small, grainy, and from awful angles which would make measuring and scaling them a nightmare.

Futalognkosaurus was a member of the family Lognkosauria, a transitional group of titanosaurs with a plethora of strange and extreme skeletal features, including extremely wide dorsal vertebrae and rib cages. They ranged from the small (Malawisaurus) to the colossal (Puertasaurus). Futalognkosaurus, a Late Cretaceous lognkosaur, was one of the larger members of the family, and so far the one with the tallest neck bones - indeed it may have proportionally the deepest neck of any sauropod with the exception of Isisaurus.

Currently this recon shows Futalognkosaurus at 100 ft. (30m), rivaling Argentinosaurus in length, and likely exceeding both Paralititan and Argyrosaurus. Nevertheless the width of the vertebrae, though impressive, indicates it is still significantly smaller than both Puertasaurus and the new adult Alamosaurus remains, and it may also be outclassed by Ruyangosaurus giganteus and Huanghetitan ruyangensis. And then you also have a mess of more obscure giants which may equal or exceed "big Duke" in size - the French Monster, Lacovara's titanosaur, the Broome and Plagne trackmakers, and whatever "Antarctosaurus giganteus" really was, just to name a few.