Russian scientists from the Paleontological Institute. A.A. Borisyak RAS found out that the remains of a herbivorous sauropod of the Jurassic period were discovered earlier in the Moscow region. As noted in a study published in the journal Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, a giant dinosaur lived about 165 million years ago in territories located near modern Moscow.

The tail vertebrae of an sauropod in Sands near Moscow were discovered by a student of the geological faculty of Moscow State University Alexander Vydrik back in 1997. The student took the find, which he took for the remains of an ancient marine reptile - the pliosaurus, to the museum of the Moscow city station of young naturalists.

It is worth noting that earlier in the European part of Russia, traces of Jurassic sauropods have never been found, only the teeth of predatory dinosaurs of that period - theropods - were found.

  • Tail vertebrae of a sauropod found in the suburbs
  • © Paleontological Institute. A.A. Borisya RAS

Until now, the bones were in the museum window, and only recently have they been re-examined by metropolitan paleontologists.

“As pliosaurus vertebrae, the find was included in the 2017 fossil reptile summary of fossils in Moscow and the Moscow Region. However, a re-study with additional cleaning of the host rock, made by the staff of the Paleontological Institute. A.A. Borisyak of the Russian Academy of Sciences made it possible to establish that the vertebrates actually belong to the herbivorous dinosaur-sauropod, ”the Institute’s press service said.

The results of morphological and phylogenetic analyzes showed that the owner of these vertebrae is the dinosaur-sauropod, which belongs to the superfamily of diplodocoids (Diplodocoidea). The most famous representative of this superfamily is Late Jurassic diplodocus from North America.

It was also found that the Moscow region sauropod, according to the vertebral structure, is closer to the family of dicreosaurids (Dicraeosauridae) - short-necked sauropods, whose later representatives had long spikes on their necks.

  • The paleogeography of Europe at the turn of the Middle and Upper Jurassic (about 163 million years ago). The asterisk marks the location of the find
  • © Paleontological Institute. A.A. Borisya RAS

According to scientists, the find near Moscow sheds light on the evolution of sauropods. It reinforces the hypothesis that dicreosaurids arose in Asia in the middle of the Middle Jurassic and entered Europe before the Middle Russian Sea divided the two continents. After that, according to paleontologists, more advanced dicreosaurids inhabited Africa and America.