Duriatitan

Duriatitan is a Late Jurassic sauropod known from southern England. Found in the Kimmeridge Clay of Dorset, the genus is based on an incomplete, highly distinctive left upper arm bone. The specimen spent well over a century being referred back and forth between Cetiosaurus and Pelorosaurus before being recognised as a distinct genus in 2010. The specific name refers to the prominent crest on the humerus where major shoulder and chest muscles attached. Although knowledge of the full skeleton is limited, comparison with better-known sauropods suggests Duriatitan reached roughly fifteen to twenty metres in length. It represents one of the relatively few titanosauriform dinosaurs definitively identified from the Late Jurassic of northwest Europe, wandering coastal marshlands alongside contemporaneous marine reptiles.

Historically lumped into Cetiosaurus and Pelorosaurus, its humerus is distinguished by a prominent deltopectoral crest.

Where and when

Duriatitan lived in the Late Jurassic, from 154.8 to 149.2 million years ago (Kimmeridgian age). Its remains come from United Kingdom, in the Kimmeridge Clay Formation.

The numbers

Length 18 m (estimates run from 15 to 20 m). Mass about 13 t. Hip height about 3.5 m. That is 10.3 human-lengths, or 1.56 of a double-decker bus. These are estimates from fragmentary remains; fields marked estimated by the site are length, mass, hip height.

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