Paralititan

Paralititan (meaning "tidal giant") is a genus of sauropod dinosaur that lived in present-day Egypt during the Late Cretaceous period. It was described by American paleontologist Joshua B. Smith and colleagues in 2001. The genus contains a single species, Paralititan stromeri, named based on a fragmentary skeleton including vertebrae and limb bones. These fossils were unearthed by an American expedition to the Bahariya Oasis in western Egypt in rock layers of the Bahariya Formation. This formation dates to the Cenomanian stage of the Late Cretaceous, which lasted 101 to 94 million years ago. An incomplete dorsal (back) vertebra that had been described by German paleontologist Ernst Stromer in 1932 was also assigned to Paralititan. However, this vertebra had been destroyed during the Bombing of Munich in World War II. Like other sauropods, Paralititan was a four-legged herbivore with a long neck ending in a small head. It was at one point considered one of the largest dinosaurs known. More recent estimates place it at 26 meters (85 feet) in length and 30–55 tonnes (33.1–60.6 short tons) in mass.