The New South American Sauropod: Mesetasaurus protector

Publication Info:

Transcript:

Matías Soto Núñez et al. A new Aeolosaurini (Sauropoda, Titanosauria) from the Upper Cretaceous of Uruguay. Ameghiniana, published online July 8, 2026; doi: 10.5710/amgh.19.06.2026.3689

Meet Mesetasaurus protector, the newly named sauropod from Uruguay! At a time when many sauropod dinosaur groups were struggling on our planet, this South American group was thriving!

Episode 309

Notes:

There's another brand new dinosaur. So, I know you probably know what sauropods are, but if you don't, they're the long-necked, long-tailed dinosaurs. Literally, the largest animals to ever walk on land on our planet and arguably the longest vertebrates to ever live on our planet, period. Within a couple feet of blue whales going either direction depending on how some of that ends up going. You know, Littlefoot. Well, there's a brand new one. Meet Mesetasaurus protector from Late Cretaceous Uruguay, living only 20 million years or so before the end of the reign of the dinosaurs. Mesetasaurus was a titanosaur, a relative of the absolute giants like Patagotitan. Specifically, a member of the group Aeolosaurini, one of the sauropod groups that somehow managed to thrive in South America around the same time a lot of other sauropod groups were struggling elsewhere. Mierasaurus is known from two caudal or tail vertebrae. They were originally discovered in the 1980s and were noted as some of the best preserved sauropod vertebrae ever discovered in Uruguay. As usual, if you want more information, here's the source.