Bicharracosaurus dionidei: Patagonia’s Colossal New Late Jurᴀssic Sauropod – Argentina’s Giant “Big Mouth” тιтan Emerges

In a major Late Jurᴀssic discovery announced in June 2026, paleontologists have named Bicharracosaurus dionidei — a truly gigantic sauropod from Patagonia that measured up to 28 metres long and weighed an estimated 45–50 tonnes, making it one of the largest dinosaurs known from the Southern Hemisphere during the Jurᴀssic.

Described in Scientific Reports by a CONICET team led by Dr. José Carballido of the Museo Paleontológico Egidio Feruglio (MEF), the partial skeleton was recovered from the Cañadón Calcáreo Formation in Chubut Province. The holotype includes a mᴀssive skull with an unusually wide, “big-mouthed” snout (hence the name Bicharraco, a local term for something huge and voracious), elongated cervical vertebrae, and a robust femur exceeding 1.9 metres in length.

At roughly 152–148 million years old, Bicharracosaurus lived alongside other Patagonian giants such as Brachytrachelopan and early theropods in a lush floodplain environment. Its broad skull and high-crowned teeth suggest it was adapted for high browsing on tough vegetation, occupying a different ecological niche from the narrower-snouted diplodocoids that dominated North America at the same time.

Carballido described the animal as “a true Patagonian behemoth that shows how quickly sauropods achieved enormous size in the Southern Hemisphere.” The discovery significantly increases known sauropod diversity in the Late Jurᴀssic of Gondwana and supports the idea that тιтanosauriforms were already diversifying earlier than previously recognised.

The specimen is now on permanent display at MEF in Trelew, with life-sized casts touring major Argentine museums. Bicharracosaurus dionidei proves that Patagonia was home to some of the largest and most imposing dinosaurs of the Jurᴀssic world.