Well, it depends on what you call recent find. It was described in 1995, with some material found in 1989, but for some reason it's not that popular despite its unusual (and pretty cool imo) appearance. I too hadn't heard about Ampelosaurus before illustrating it, but once I learnt about it I knew I have to draw/paint it.
Ampelosaurus should soon be more famous with the discovery of a new nearly complete skeleton (not yet described) including one of the most complete titanosaurs skulls in the world. Indeed, nearly all the skull bones have been collected.
At the present time, only the braincase, the right dentary, both premaxillae and both maxillae are exposed in the Dinosaur Museum of Espéraza. Other skull bones, including the left dentary, at least one surangular and numerous elements of the cranium like jugal, lacrimal, etc., are not yet presented to the public.
Interestingly, the right maxilla (the most complete) shows, like Rapetosaurus krausei from Madagascar, an enlarged antorbital fenestra. This one, like the Malagasy taxon, extends anteriorly over the tooth row and the maxilla presents ventrally an elongate, narrow jugal process. These features are not present in other rare titanosaur skulls like the one of Nemegtosaurus mongoliensis from Mongolia, suggesting than Ampelosaurus and Rapetosaurus belong to the same group or subgroup of titanosaurs.
If this interests some of you, I can send you photos of the three types of osteoderms of certain bones of the skull and the sculpture of the head of Ampelosaurus based on this new skull.
Well, it depends on what you call recent find. It was described in 1995, with some material found in 1989, but for some reason it's not that popular despite its unusual (and pretty cool imo) appearance. I too hadn't heard about Ampelosaurus before illustrating it, but once I learnt about it I knew I have to draw/paint it.
I agree Ampelosaurus should be more famous. I was shocked when I read that it's the most well known European sauropod.
At the present time, only the braincase, the right dentary, both premaxillae and both maxillae are exposed in the Dinosaur Museum of Espéraza. Other skull bones, including the left dentary, at least one surangular and numerous elements of the cranium like jugal, lacrimal, etc., are not yet presented to the public.
Interestingly, the right maxilla (the most complete) shows, like Rapetosaurus krausei from Madagascar, an enlarged antorbital fenestra. This one, like the Malagasy taxon, extends anteriorly over the tooth row and the maxilla presents ventrally an elongate, narrow jugal process. These features are not present in other rare titanosaur skulls like the one of Nemegtosaurus mongoliensis from Mongolia, suggesting than Ampelosaurus and Rapetosaurus belong to the same group or subgroup of titanosaurs.
If this interests some of you, I can send you photos of the three types of osteoderms of certain bones of the skull and the sculpture of the head of Ampelosaurus based on this new skull.
Nice details, especially the armor.