In Depth
The first fossils of Lusotitan were found in 1947, and named in 1957 as a species of Brachiosaurus by Albert-F�lix de Lapparent and Georges Zbyszewski. In 2003 Oct�vio Mateus & Miguel Telles Antunes renamed the fossils as Lusotitan atalaiensis on the basis that the differences were greater than what was to be expected at a species level. What bones are known indicate that Lusotitan was a brachiosaurid sauropod, and even though the skull is not known it is a reasonable proposition that it was similar to the skulls of other members of the this group.
Lusotitan is not the only dinosaur once thought to be restricted to North America to be later discovered in Portugal. Remains of Stegosaurus have also been found in Portugal which further reinforces the idea that there was a land bridge connection between Western Europe and North America back towards the end of the Jurassic period.
Further Reading
– Dinosaurs of Portugal. – Comptes Rendus Palevol 2:77-95 – M. T. Antunes & O. Mateus – 2003. – Osteology of the Late Jurassic Portuguese sauropod dinosaur Lusotitan atalaiensis (Macronaria) and the evolutionary history of basal titanosauriforms. – Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 1-109. – P. D. Mannion, P. Upchurch, R. N. Barnes & O. Mateus – 2013
