Patagosaurus maximus: Patagonia’s Colossal New Jurᴀssic Herbivore Rewrites Sauropod Origins

In a discovery that has upended Jurᴀssic dinosaur science, paleontologists have named Patagosaurus maximus — a truly gigantic herbivorous sauropod from southern Patagonia that pushes the emergence of true тιтanosaurs back by 20 million years and reveals unexpected early diversity in long-necked giants.

Described in a landmark June 2026 paper in Nature, the 170-million-year-old fossils were unearthed in Argentina’s Cañadón Asfalto Formation by a joint team from the Museo Paleontológico Egidio Feruglio (MEF) and the University of Buenos Aires. Led by Dr. José Carballido, researchers recovered a partial skeleton including a mᴀssive 1.8-metre femur, cervical vertebrae, and shoulder girdle from a single individual estimated at 35–40 metres long and weighing over 60 tonnes — rivalling the largest Cretaceous тιтanosaurs.

What makes P. maximus revolutionary is its combination of primitive and advanced traits: a short, deep skull with leaf-shaped teeth for high browsing, yet elongated neck vertebrae suggesting it could reach canopy heights previously thought impossible in the Middle Jurᴀssic. The find proves mᴀssive body size evolved far earlier than the classic Late Jurᴀssic “sauropod explosion,” forcing a complete rethink of when and where these mega-herbivores diversified across Gondwana.

The animal lived in a lush, volcanic floodplain alongside early theropods and smaller ornithischians. Its sheer scale implies sophisticated herd behaviour and vast foraging ranges. Carballido called the specimen “the missing link that explains how sauropods became the largest land animals ever.”

With the holotype now on display at MEF and casts touring globally, Patagosaurus maximus cements Patagonia as the cradle of Jurᴀssic giants and shows that the “Age of Dinosaurs” was even more colossal — and earlier — than anyone imagined.