Paludititan
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Paludititan Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, Maastrichtian |
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| Dorsal vertebra UBB NVM1-43 | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Order: | Saurischia |
| Suborder: | †Sauropodomorpha |
| Clade: | †Neosauropoda |
| Clade: | †Macronaria |
| Clade: | †Titanosauria |
| Genus: |
†Paludititan Csiki et al., 2010 |
| Species: | †P. nalatzensis |
| Binomial name | |
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Paludititan nalatzensis Csiki et al., 2010 |
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Paludititan is a genus of herbivorous titanosaurian dinosaur which lived in the area of present Romania during the Late Cretaceous. It existed in the island ecosystem known as Hațeg Island.
Paludititan was a small member of the Sauropoda, with a shoulder height of about 2 metres (6 ft 7 in). Gregory S. Paul in 2016 estimated the length of Magyarosaurus dacus and Paludititan, by him considered a possible single taxon, at 6 m (20 ft), the weight at one tonne.
The fossil remains show at least four unique features, autapomorphies, which demonstrate that P. nalatzensis is a species distinct from comparable titanosaurians. In the rear vertebrae of the back, the top of the lamina centrodiapophysealis anterior, the front ridge on the underside of the lateral process, obliquely curving to the front and above runs parallel to the top of the lamina centrodiapophysealis posterior, the rear ridge, instead of touching it. In the vertebrae of the tail base and the first vertebrae of the middle tail, the neural spines, while being short and erect, possess a conspicuous corner on their front rim, projecting to the front. While vertebrae of the tail base and the first vertebrae of the middle tail are procoelous, thus with a concave front facet of the vertebral centre, some middle tail vertebrae more to the rear are amphiplatous, with flat front and rear facets; but they are again followed by procoelous middle tail vertebrae. The peduncle of the ischium, touching the ilium, has a conspicuous triangular process at the outer upper rear, forming a buttress that overlaps the ischial pedicel of the ilium.
In 2002, a Belgian-Romanian expedition uncovered a sauropod skeleton in the bed of the river Râul Mare, at Nǎlaț-Vad. It was at the time the most complete sauropod skeleton ever discovered in Romania. In 2010, the type species Paludititan nalatzensis was named and described by Zoltán Csiki, Vlad Codrea, Cǎtǎlin Jipa-Murzea and Pascal Godefroit. The generic name is derived from Latin palus, "marsh" and Greek Titan. The specific name refers to its finding place Nǎlaț-Vad.
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