Baurutitan britoi

Baurutitan britoi Kellner, Campos & Trotta, 2006

Place: Marília Formation, Uberaba, Minas Gerais State
Time: Late Cretaceous
Taxonomy: Saurischia, Sauropodomorpha, Sauropoda, Neosauropoda, Titanosauria, Titanosauridae
Etymology: The titan from Bauru, with "titan" meaning titanosaur. The specific name honours Ignacio Aureliano Machado Brito (1938-2001), an important Brazilian paleontologist.
References:
Kellner, A.W.A.; Campos, D.A. & Trotta, M.N.F., 2005. Description of a titanosaurid caudal series from the Bauru Group, Late Cretaceous of Brazil. Arquivos do Museu Nacional, 63(3):529-564. Downloadable PDF

Description:
A new titanosaurid, Baurutitan britoi n. gen., n. sp., is described and compared with other taxa
of that sauropod clade. The specimen (MCT 1490-R) consists of the last sacral followed by a sequence of 18 caudal vertebrae that were found in the continental deposits of the Late Cretaceous Bauru Group that outcrop at the Peirópolis region, near the town of Uberaba, State of Minas Gerais, Brazil. This new taxon is distinguished from other titanosaurians by several features, including subrectangular to square outline of the anterior articulation surface of the anterior and middle caudals, strongly pointed laterally directed process intercepting the spinoprezygapophyseal lamina in caudal 1; dorsal prezygapophyseal tuberosity on the lateral margin of the prezygapophyses of caudals 2-4, that smoothens out in midcaudals. This material
demonstrates that the horizontal ridge present in middle and posterior caudals of some titanosaurs, in Baurutitan britoi is homologous with a dorsal tuberosity and not with the transverse process.