New sauropod dinosaur species discovered

A new sauropod dinosaur species, Leinkupal laticauda, has been discovered in Argentina.

With the exception of Africa, diplodocids have not previously been found to have roamed southern hemisphere land masses. The unearthing of L. laticauda is the first record of diplodocids in South America and the youngest of the ancestral line in the world.

Sauropods are characterised by a long neck and tail, and the uncovered fragments noted differences in vertebrae bone structure compared to known diplodocid species.

Its existence beyond that of its North American cousins further suggests the extinction of the Diplodocidea around the end of the Jurassic period did not occur globally as previously suspected.