Page 32 - Introduction to Paleobiology and The Fossil Record

PALEONTOLOGY AS A SCIENCE 19

(a)

(b)
Figure 1.12 Finding the most complete titanosaur, Rapetosaurus, in Madagascar: (a) Kristi Curry
Rogers (front right) with colleagues excavating the giant skeleton; (b) after preparation in the lab,
the whole skeleton can be laid out – this is a juvenile sauropod, so not as large as some of its
relatives. (Courtesy of Kristi Curry Rogers.)

2001. It turned out to be different from titanosaurians already named from other parts of the world,
and the specimen was unique in being nearly complete and in preserving the skull, which was
described in detail by Curry Rogers and Forster in 2004. Its name refers to “rapeto”, a legendary
giant in Madagascan folklore. To date, Rapetosaurus krausei is the most complete and best-preserved
titanosaur ever discovered.
Kristi Curry Rogers is now Curator and Head of Vertebrate Paleontology at the Science Museum
of Minnesota, where she continues her work on the anatomy and relationships of sauropod dino-
saurs, and on dinosaur bone histology. Read more about her at http://www.blackwellpublishing.

com/paleobiology/. You can find out more about Rapetosaurus in Curry Rogers and Forster (2001,
2004) and at http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/paleobiology/.

Continued