Ninjatitan
| Ninjatitan Temporal range: Early Cretaceous,
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|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | Saurischia |
| Clade: | †Sauropodomorpha |
| Clade: | †Sauropoda |
| Clade: | †Macronaria |
| Clade: | †Titanosauria |
| Genus: | †Ninjatitan Gallina, Canale, & Carballido, 2021 |
| Species: | †N. zapatai
|
| Binomial name | |
| †Ninjatitan zapatai Gallina, Canale, & Carballido, 2021
| |
Ninjatitan (meaning "Ninja giant") is an exinct genus of titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous (Berriasian–Valanginian age) Bajada Colorada Formation of Argentina. The genus contains a single species, Ninjatitan zapatai, which was named and described in 2021 based on a partial postcranial skeleton discovered in 2014. Its generic name comes from a nickname of Argentine palaeontologist Sebastian Apesteguia, and the specific name comes from technician Rogelio Zapata.
When it was named in 2021, Ninjatitan was identified as the oldest titanosaur known, although subsequent research has cast doubt on this interpretation, as the Russian Tengrisaurus is comparable in age and more conclusively titanosaurian.