PUNATITAN
a titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Argentina.
Pronunciation: POO-nuh-TIE-tuhn
Meaning: Puna giant
Author/s: Hechenleitner
et al. (
2020)
Synonyms: None known
First Discovery: La Rioja, Argentina
Discovery Chart Position: #1031
Punatitan coughlini
(Coughlin's Puna Giant)Etymology
Punatitan is derived from "Puna" (the local name that distinguishes the oxygen-depleted atmosphere typical of the high Andes) and the Greek "titan" (a mythological giant deity).
The
species epithet,
coughlini, honours geologist Tim Coughlin, who reported the first dinosaur fossils in the area.
ZooBank registry:
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:658B5D64-1432-46BC-B543-DFF1155EC71E.
Discovery
The remains of
Punatitan were discovered in sandstone levels 170 meters above the base of the Ciénaga del Río Huaco Formation at QSD (Quebrada de Santo Domingo) in the Andes of La Rioja, NW Argentina. The Quebrada de Santo Domingo locality is famous for its copious fossilised sauropod eggs, making it one of the largest nesting sites documented worldwide.
The
holotype (CRILAR-Pv 614) is partial skeleton, including a partial neck vertebra, two back vertebrae, a partial block of hip vertebrae, a series of thirteen tail vertebrae, two hip bones (right pubis and left ischium), and several ribs.
Estimations
Timeline:
Era: Mesozoic
Epoch: Late Cretaceous
Stage: Campanian-Maastrichtian
Age range: 74-66 mya
Stats:
Est. max. length: ?
Est. max. hip height: ?
Est. max. weight: ?
Diet: Herbivore
References
• González Riga BJ, Lamanna MC, Otero A, Ortiz David LD, Kellner AWA and Ibiricu LM (2019) "An overview of the appendicular skeletal anatomy of South American titanosaurian sauropods, with definition of a newly recognized clade".
Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências. 91 (suppl 2): e20180374. DOI: 10.1590/0001-3765201920180374.
• Hechenleitner EM, Leuzinger L, Martinelli AG, Rocher S, Fiorelli LE, Taborda JRA and Salgado L (
2020) "Two Late Cretaceous sauropods reveal titanosaurian dispersal across South America".
Communications Biology, 3(622). DOI: 10.1038/s42003-020-01338-w.
• Carballido JL, Otero A, Mannion PD, Salgado L and Moreno AP (2022) "Titanosauria: A Critical Reappraisal of Its Systematics and the Relevance of the South American Record". Page 269–298 in Otero, Carballido and Pol (eds.) "
South American Sauropodomorph Dinosaurs. Record, Diversity and Evolution".
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-95959-3.
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To cite this page:
Atkinson, L.
"
PUNATITAN :: from DinoChecker's dinosaur archive".
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http://www.dinochecker.com/dinosaurs/PUNATITAN›. Web access: 07th Mar 2026.
