Cretaceous PeroidSaurischian Dinosaurs |
Were there any other sauropods that survived into the Cretaceous period? |
There were very few sauropod species that survived into the Cretaceous period. Most of them, except the titanosaurids in Gondwana, were almost extinct. But there were still a few. For example, although they were abundant in the late Jurassic period, some brachiosaurs survived into the Early Cretaceous, with fossils found in Europe and Africa. There were probably more, but fossil evidence—especially whole skeletons—of Cretaceous sauropods (except for the titanosaurids) is scarce.
Titanosaurids
Saltasaurus: Also seen spelled incorrectly as Saltosaurus, this relatively small—about 39 feet (12 meters) long—sauropod had bony plates covering its back in a kind of chain-mail body armor. Fossils have been found in Argentina and, more recently, in Uruguay.
Alamosaurus: This dinosaur was up to 53 feet (16 meters) long, with relatively long forelimbs. It may have been one of the last dinosaurs to go extinct.
Spinosaurus, a species of tetanuran, was a carnosaur considered to be more closely related to birds than almost any other dinosaur species (iStock).
Argentinosaurus: A good candidate for one of the largest land animals that ever lived. This sauropod evolved in South America during the Middle Cretaceous, around 100 million years ago, and may have been more than 85 feet (26 meters) in length.