In Depth
Without doubt, Turiasaurus is one of the largest sauropod dinosaurs to ever roam the European continent. Early estimates of Turiasaurus place the potential length of this dinosaur beyond thirty-five meters, though most now consider Turiasaurus to have been around thirty meters long, but still establishing Turiasaurus as one of the biggest. Despite being around thirty meters long however, Turiasaurus had a proportionately small head with a skull about seventy centimetres long.
Turiasaurus was once informally named as Riodevasaurus, after Riodeva in Spain, but this is now a nomen nudum. The name Turiasaurus means ‘Turia lizard’ but it should be pointed out that ‘Turia’ is the Latinised form of Teruel, the name of the Province where the first Turiasaurus fossils were found. Turiasaurus has also become the type genus of the Turiasaria (hence the similar name) which also includes the genera Losillasaurus, Galveosaurus and Zby. This is quite odd as usually the first named genus is used to establish the group name, and in this instance it would be Losillasaurus which was named in 2001.
Further Reading
- A Giant European Dinosaur and a New Sauropod Clade. - Science 314: 1925-1927. - R. Royo-Torres, A. Cobos & L. Alcal� - 2006. – The sauropod Turiasaurus riodevensis in the Late Jurassic of Portugal. – Journal of vertebrate Paleontology, 29. – O. Mateus – 2009.
