Gondwanaland: Gondwanaland:
South America in the Late Cretaceous
From The Dinosaur Collector
Cretaceous South American dinosaurs have been poorly known. Some of the earliest known dinosaurs are from the Late Triassic South America. Part of Gondwanaland, it was dominated in the by abelisaurs like Carnotaurus and sauropods. There is a Northern hemisphere bias to dinosaurs since the best known finds especially for the Cretaceous are from Laurasia. It was long assumed that sauropods declined world wide and were replaced by hadrosaurs and cerotopsians. It may be that North America and Asia were not the norm for the Mesozoic. In the The southern continents sauropods thrived and evolved the duckbills and certopsians never became major components of the fauna of South America, Australia or Africa. It actually looks like Gondwanaland fauna was expanding into North America and Europe when the extinction event closed out the Mesozoic. Argentina in particular has been producing a lot of new dinosaur finds. These have been over shadowed by the spectacular finds in Asia in the public news.
update 11/23/07
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The Late Cretaceous Campanian had a Neuquenian fauna that included huge titanosaurs and diplodocid sauropods. There ere also small to medium size relatives of Iguanodon. Giganotosaurs and carchardontosaurs fill the top predator slots in South America. Abelisaurs are medium to smallish predators.
A selection of articulated action figures. Tyco Apatosaurus from the Dino Rider series. King Kong giant theropod and Chap Mei Dino Quest Carnotaurus.
The mega predator Giganotosaurus (Giant Southern Reptile) one of the largest predators is ( 6 - 8 ) tons and 43 feet long. A family group of four or five Giganotosaurus fossils of different sizes in the Patagonian plains of Argentina. have been found. Two of the specimens are very large, the others are smaller. The speculation is that it represents a family group. Longer but lighter than Tyrannosaurus with a smaller brain Giganotosaurus starts in the mid Cretaceous but disappears before the end of the Cretaceous.
Above Giganotosaurus by Reasaurus. This figure has 12 points of articulation. Resaurus is gone but Toyway of England and Toysmith are still selling the Resaurus line.
Giganotosaurus(Giant southern lizard) is most recently classed in the same family as Allosaurus being more closely related to Acrocanthosaurus and Carchardontosaurs. It must have preyed on the large titanosaurs that dominated Gondwanaland.
Giginotosaurus from Yujin.
Titanosaurs are the best known sauropods ranging from the medium sized Saltasaurus to gigantic Argentinosaurus. Some or all the titanosaurs may have had armor. Diplodocids are also present. In the Cretaceous sauropods show a wide adaptive radiation filling the small plant eating niches evolving armor, dental batteries perhaps even keratinous beaks. Argentinosaurus only a partial skeleton has been found but it is thought to be a member of the titanosaur family. Argentinosaurus is the largest dinosaur of any type that has ever been found estimated to be 123 feet long and weighed over 100 tons.
Dino Horizon Panorama series from Cog Ltd, includes 4 dinosaurs. It appears they confused the T rex with Giganotosaurus. The 3 fingered figure labeled Tyrannosaurus looks like an Allosaurus. While the figure labeled Tyrannosaurus has only 2 claws.
Custom Wai Fong figure PHOTO AND ART WORK BY....Fred R Hinojosa.
Saltasaurus (Salta reptile) was 39 feet long and from the Late Cretaceous Campanian - Maastrichtian. It was the first armored sauropod found. It is named after Salta in Argentina where it was first found.
Schleich and Carnegie Safari Saltasaurus .
The skull of Carnotaurus is unusual for its deep shape and the horns just above the eyes. If the shape has not been distorted during fossilization then the skull was highly mobile and could gape widely to swallow large objects.
Carnotaurus from Schleich and the Carnegie Safari Saltasaurus
Carnotaurus had 4 fingers on arms shorter than Tyrannosaurus and that did not bend. We know what the skin looked like from a fossil impressions. Its skin was covered with 4-5 cm (2 in) diameter bumps in rows about 8-10 cm (4 in) apart, becoming larger towards the spine. Each bump was surrounded by 5mm (1/5 in) tubercles.
After the Disney's Dinosaur movie Carnotaurus became a must for every serious dinosaur series. Above is the brown Schleich version. Also from Europe are the two McDonalds premiums. Separate groups of figures were released in the US, Europe, Australia and Asia Pacific. The ones in Europe were the most extensive.
Saltasaurus was the first armored sauropod discovered - it had hundreds of bony studs on its back and sides. It had a flexible tail and may have reared up on its back legs to reach leaves in tall trees. Its broad back, and strong, broad upper tail bones may have enabled the tail to be used as a prop at times. It also had a few bony plates for protection on its back. Aucasaurus is similar to Carnotaurus but with a longer skull, lower snout and prominence rather than horns, longer arms, and is 30% smaller overall. Traces of soft tissue are also preserved around its pelvic region. It was found in the same area in which titanosaurid embryos were found.
Bullyland Carnotaurus from the Disney series and Saltasaurus from Famemaster.
South American dinosaurs have only a limited selection in the toy market. the medium size Carnotaurus is best known because of the Disney Dinosaur movie. The medium size sauropods Amargasosaurus and Saltasaurus have been produced by several lines probably because of their distinctive look. Giganotosaurus has become the rival of Tyrannosaurus for the title of biggest carnivore and well known to the public. Dinosaur Planet and Chased by Monsters had a selection of potential figures abelisaurs, carchardontosaurs and titianosaurs for future releases.
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