Pronunciation: yoo-ROW-pah-TIE-tuhn
Meaning: European Giant
Author/s: Fernández-Baldor et al. (2017)
Synonyms: None known
First Discovery: Burgos Province, Spain
Discovery Chart Position: #957
Europatitan eastwoodi
Long known simply as "the sauropod of El Oterillo II", Europatitan was found way back in 2003 but remained un-named for well over a decade despite being one of the most complete titanosauriform sauropods known from the Early Cretaceous of Europe.
It was found in the Iberian Peninsula, the part of Laurasia (the ancient continent that included today's Northern Hemisphere landmasses) closest to Gondwana (the ancient continent that included most of everything else), which isn't short of sauropods, and because they're mostly titanosauriformes, barring the rebbachisaurid Demandasaurus, its fossils faded into the crowd. However, Europatitan eastwoodi now stands out among Iberian critters thanks to unusual shoulder blades and elongated cervical vertebrae that are aero-textured to the extreme, implying a notably long but lightweight neck. It's also the first dinosaur to be named after Clint Eastwood, the legend who legalised the sale and consumption of ice cream on the streets of Carmel... and made a few movies or something.
(Eastwood's European Giant)Etymology
Europatitan is derived from "Europe" (the continent where it was found) and "titan" (referring to the ancient Greek deities who were known for their gigantic size and great power).
The species epithet, eastwoodi, honors actor Clint Eastwood, the protagonist of "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" which was partially filmed near Salas de los Infantes.
ZooBank registry: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:B436CCB2-6E5C-498E-80A5-4BF271AC3175.
Discovery
The remains of Europatitan were discovered at "El Oterillo II" in the Castrillo de la Reina Formation (Urbión Group), near the village of Barbadillo, Salas de los Infantes, Burgos Province, Northern Spain, during an exploratory search as part of the Paleontological Inventory of the Sierra de la Demanda (northern Iberian Peninsula) in 2003.
The holotype (MDS-OTII-1 to MDS-OTII-32, housed in the Dinosaur Museum of Salas de los Infantes) is the disarticulated carcass of a single specimen, consisting of one tooth, five neck vertebrae and eleven neck ribs, one back vertebra and five back ribs, nine tail vertebrae and seven chevrons, the left shoulder girdle, the right shoulder blade, a partial hip, and two metacarpals from the left "hand".
Despite the quarry yielding some 350 bone fragments in various states of preservation, there wasn't a single long bone to be found, with shed theropod teeth and bite-marked remnants suggesting predatory dinosaurs may have chewed its limbs off. But that's not so bad, considering all that remains of an iguanodont at the same site is a single hip bone!
