In Depth When looking up what is the biggest dinosaur, people usually get presented with the image of a sauropod, but the exact owner of this title depends upon a number of factors, particularly the definition of largest be it by length, height or weight. Although incomplete, Sauroposeidon is thought to be one of the … Read more
In Depth The modern history of the sauropod dinosaur Barosaurus begins in 1889 with the discovery of the first Barosaurus fossils by a Ms E. R. Ellerman in South Dakota. Six caudal (tail) vertebrae were subsequently recovered by the famous American palaeontologist Othniel Charles Marsh later that year, though other remains were left at the … Read more
In Depth Living in the late Triassic, Ingentia is a genus of sauropod dinosaur that already shows thickening of bones and a growth to a large stocky size, a foreshadowing of the huge sizes that sauropod dinosaurs would attain in the Jurassic. Since being named Ingentia is regarded as being similar in form to other … Read more
In Depth As a macronarian sauropod, Tehuelchesaurus is thought to have had a body form better for reaching up to high growing vegetation rather than sweeping across a broad area to browse upon low growing vegetation like a diplodocid. Although only known from South America, Tehuelchesaurus is actually thought to be very similar in form … Read more
In Depth With a rib that is three meters long, Huanghetitan is thought to have had one of the deepest bodies of any known animal. This is but a hint of the size of this sauropod dinosaur which is considered to have been one of the largest sauropods (and by extension vertebrates) to ever walk … Read more
In Depth Very little can be said about this titanosaur because it is only represented by a single caudal (tail) vertebrae. In addition to this the palaeontologist who named Khetranisaurus, M. Sadiq Malkani, also named three other titanosaurs Sulaimanisaurus, Pakisaurus and Balochisaurus, Marisaurus in that same year, all from only caudal vertebrae. The first two … Read more
In Depth Dicraeosaurid sauropods (as typified by Dicraeosaurus) are noted for having proportionately shorter necks, but even out of all these Brachytrachelopan has the shortest. This is in stark contrast to other sauropod types in other parts of the world such as Mamenchisaurus and Sauroposiedon which all show a progression towards a longer neck specialisation. … Read more
In Depth Erketu is a genus of sauropod that is noted for having a very long neck in proportion to the rest of the body. So extreme was this neck that it likely took up at least half of the total body length. Despite this, other genera such as Mamenchisaurus may have had an even … Read more
In Depth Further Reading - A new sauropod dinosaur of Cretaceous from Jingshan, Zhejiang province. - Vertebrata PalAsiatica 39(4):272-281. - F. Tang, X.-M. Kang, Z.-S. Jin, F. Wei & W.-T. Wu - 2001.
In Depth Klamelisaurus is a genus of sauropod dinosaur that lived in what is now China during the Mid Jurassic. Klamelisaurus has been noted as being very similar in form to an earlier named genus named Bellusaurus, though in addition to this, some have gone further to say that Klamelisaurus might actually be the adult … Read more