Europe's largest dinosaur found in Spain

RIODEVA, Spain, Dec. 22 (UPI) -- Paleontologists said they have uncovered the remains of Europe's largest dinosaur on record near Riodeva, Spain.

The plant-eater, which scientists named Turiasaurus, died about 150 million years ago. The size of the bones puts the creature among the largest dinosaurs to walk the earth, NewScientist.com said.

Its skeleton is the most complete of the super-giants, said Paul Upchurch at University College London, who participated in the study. Because the fossil is so complete, Upchurch said scientists should be able to learn more about how the long-necked sauropod got so big.

From the bones found, Rafael Royo-Torres of the Joint Paleontology Foundation of Teruel-Dinopolis in Spain, estimates Turiasaurus weighed between 40 tons and 48 tons, more than seven elephants. Its total body length could exceed that of a U.S. football field, Royo-Torres says.

Turiasaurus is in the same league as the biggest sauropods uncovered elsewhere, scientists said. However, not much is known about this group.

The largest known land animal, sauropods, from the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, have small heads, long necks and tails, and five-toed limbs.