New analysis finds the fossils in French Museum to be the earliest relative of Brachiosaurus. The fossils were first found in 1930.
Researchers from the Imperial College in London, along with the European researchers has found the overlooked fossils in the French National Museum of Natural History in Paris as the earliest relative of Brachiosaurus. They named the dinosaurs as Vouivria damparisensis, after finding the dinosaurs was the earliest family member of titanosauriform dinosaurs.
According to the press release from the Imperial College, the fossils were discovered in 1930's in France's Jura region. Scientists were unable to identify the fossils and the species, and the fossils remain unknown until recent analysis found it as the family of Brachiosaurus.
The researchers were led by Dr. Philip Mannion from the Department of Earth Science and Engineering at Imperial College London, who is the lead author of the study. From the analysis, the earliest Brachiosaurus is found to be over 15 meters (49 feet) high and weighed around 15,000 kilograms (33,000 lbs). Its size is approximately twice of the double-decker bus in the UK.
"It's the earliest member of a group that includes Brachiosaurus," Dr. Mannion said as quoted by BBC. "It starts to give us an idea that these animals were evolving much earlier than the fossil record previously has indicated."
Brachiosaurus along with its relatives Brontosaurus and Diplodocus are the member of sauropod, a sub-group of the titanosauriform dinosaurs. They lived in the late Jurassic Era around 160 million years ago. The new species, Vouivria, lived earlier and according to Dr, Mannion's analysis, Vouvria predated Brachiosaurus by about five million years.
As the eldest member of sauropod, Vouivria had many similarities with Brachiosaurus and Brontosaurus in physical appearance. It had a very long neck, long tails, thick legs and small head. Sauropod is the biggest dinosaurs in the prehistoric age.
