A new titanosaurian sauropod from the Late Cretaceous of Velaux-La Bastide Neuve (Southern France)

The Upper Cretaceous site of Velaux-La Bastide Neuve (Bouches-du-Rhône Department, France) is well-known for its dinosaur specimens, more specifically the titanosaurian remains. The taxon Atsinganosaurus velauciensis is represented by several partially articulated skeletons found in this upper Campanian site; some of this material was described by Garcia and collaborators in 2010 based on teeth, elements of the axial skeleton, scapular girdle and limb bones. After a detailed revision of the fossil remains, including the study of new material collected during the 2009 and 2012 campaigns, the occurrence of a second titanosaurian species can be stated due to the morphological and histological dissimilarities present in the appendicular skeleton and the pelvic girdle. The long bone histology of the new taxon indicates slowly growing individuals near their growth end to fully grown individuals. Compared to the propodials of A. velauciensis which are fully grown, as indicated by their histology, but shorter than those of the new taxon, this osteological-histological combination points to bigger titanosaurian individuals. A phylogenetic analysis (in which all the Cretaceous European titanosaurs have been scored) recovers this new taxon in a polyphyletic group within Lithostrotia, together with the
Iberoarmorican titanosaurs Lirainosaurus, Ampelosaurus and Atsinganosaurus, the African Rapetosaurus, and the Argentinean Bonatitan. Although its noticeable anatomical divergences with the rest of the European titanosaurs, this new taxon was probably closely related with other Iberoarmorican forms.
New works on the European and African faunas will help to clarify these affinities.