Analysis of the 90-million-year-old fossil suggests the dinosaur weighed about 80 tons - the equivalent of 14 grown elephants

This article is more than 6 years old

This article is more than 6 years old

Paleontologists in Patagonia, southern Argentina on Friday announced they have unearthed a 90-million-year-old fossil of what they claim is the largest dinosaur found to date.

"It's the largest example ever found," said Ruben Cuneo, director of the Feruglio Museum of Trelew, a city founded by Welsh settlers in the 1860s.

The new kind of dinosaur dwarfs even the Argentinosaurus, the previous largest contender. It is a 40-metre (130-foot) long sauropod discovered in farmland about 260km (160 miles) from the town of Trelew.

The dinosaur weighed about 80 tons, the equivalent of 14 grown elephants, said the museum director. A complete skeleton was found in a field discovered by a farm worker last year, where up to seven such complete skeletons are believed to exist, in the locality of El Sombrero.

"It's like two trucks with a trailer each, one in front of the other, and the weight of 14 elephants together," said José Luis Carballido, the Argentinian paleontologist who led the dig. "This is a real paleontological treasure. There are plenty of remains and many were nearly intact, which is unusual."

• This article was amended on 17 May 2014 to correct the estimated weight of the dinosaur to 80 tons, not 100 tons, and to add comments from the paleontologist who led the dig.