Supersaurus

Supersaurus
Temporal range: Late Jurassic,
153–145 Ma
A cast of BYU 9025, a scapulocoracoid, the holotype of Supersaurus, Dinosaur Journey Museum
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Clade: Saurischia
Clade: †Sauropodomorpha
Clade: †Sauropoda
Superfamily: †Diplodocoidea
Family: †Diplodocidae
Subfamily: †Diplodocinae
Genus: †Supersaurus
Jensen, 1985[1]
Type species
†Supersaurus vivianae
Jensen, 1985[1]
Other Species
Synonyms
Genus synonymy
Species synonymy (S. vivianae)
  • Dystylosaurus edwini
    Jensen, 1985
  • Ultrasauros macintoshi
    (Jensen, 1985) Olshevsky, 1991 [formerly Ultrasaurus, preoccupied]

Supersaurus (meaning "super lizard") is a genus of diplodocid sauropod dinosaur that lived in North America during the Late Jurassic period. The type species, S. vivianae, was first discovered by Vivian Jones of Delta, Colorado, in the middle Morrison Formation of Colorado in 1972. The fossil remains came from the Brushy Basin Member of the formation, dating between 153 to 145 million years ago.[3] It is among the longest dinosaurs ever discovered, with the three known specimens reaching 33–40 meters (108–131 ft) in length, with the largest individual possibly exceeding 40 meters (130 ft) in size.[4][5] Mass estimates for the WDC and BYU specimens tend to be around 35–44 metric tons (39–49 short tons) in body mass.[5] A potential second species, S. lourinhanensis (Dinheirosaurus), is known from Portugal and has been dated to a similar time.[6]

  1. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference jensen1985 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Bonaparte, J.; Mateus, O. (1999). "A New Diplodocid, Dinheirosaurus lourinhanensis gen. et sp. nov., from the Late Jurassic Beds of Portugal" (PDF). Revista del Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales. 5 (2): 13–29. ISSN 0524-9511. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 28, 2007.
  3. ^ Kowallis, B.J.; Christiansen, E.H.; Deino, A.L. (1991). "Age of the Brushy Basin Member of the Morrison Formation, Colorado Plateau, western USA". Cretaceous Research. 12 (5): 483–493. Bibcode:1991CrRes..12..483K. doi:10.1016/0195-6671(91)90003-U.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ a b Woodruff, D.C.; Curtice, B.D.; Foster, J.R. (2024). "Seis-ing up the Super-Morrison formation sauropods". Journal of Anatomy. doi:10.1111/joa.14108.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference Tschopp, E. 2015 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).