Diplodocus
Diplodocus is a huge dinosaur from the same time as the Allosaurus. It lived during the Upper Jurassic period, about 145 to 155 million years ago. It was a vegetarian, eating mostly leaves with its peg-like teeth.
| Diplodocus Temporal range: Upper Jurassic
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| Genus: | Diplodocus Marsh, 1878
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Size
Diplodocus was a long-necked, whip-tailed giant and could grow up to 27 m long. It had an 8 m long neck and 14 m long tail. Its weight was approximately 22,680 kg. It had a short 6 ft long head. Its size helped protect it from other dinosaurs. It used its long neck to poke into forests because its body was too big. It is also believed to have knocked the trees down. The longest species is the hallorum, which was thought to be the longest of all dinosaurs (now Amphicoelias).
Fossils
Diplodocus skeletons are among the longest dinosaur skeletons ever found. Fossils were discovered in Western North America, particularly in the Rocky Mountains of the western USA. A complete tail has never been found.
Seismosaurus
Seismosaurus was thought to be its own genus of dinosaur. In 2004 and 2006 it was decided to be a large species of Diplodocus.[1][2] It is now known as Diplodocus hallorum.
Seismosaurus was the longest animal ever known, but paleontologists found they had misplaced vertebrae, making the body too long. Current length estimates are 33–36 metres long. Weight estimates vary from 40 to 60 tonnes. Weight estimates of other Diplodocus species are much lower: 10 to 17 tonnes.
Diplodocus Media
Sizes of Diplodocus carnegii (orange) and D. hallorum (green) compared with a human.
Caudal vertebrae of D. carnegii showing the double-beamed chevron bones to which the genus name refers, Natural History Museum, London
Reconstruction of D. carnegii with horizontal neck, flexible whip tail, keratinous spines and nostrils low on the snout
Diplodocus sp. scale shapes including (1) rectangular, (2) ovoid and dome, (3) arching scale rows, (4) globular scales. Figure is own work from meeting poster.
Barnum Brown (left) and Henry Osborn (right) excavating a femur of Diplodocus hallorum (AMNH 223), 1897.
Hatcher's restoration of a Diplodocus carnegii skeleton from his 1901 description.
Diplodocus sp. skeleton nicknamed "Misty", Zoological Museum of Copenhagen
Skeletal reconstruction of D. carnegii specimens CM 84 and CM 94, with missing portions reconstructed after other diplodocids
USNM 2672, a skull formerly thought to have belonged to the holotype of D. longus
References
- ↑ Lucas S. et al 2004. Reappraisal of Seismosaurus, a late Jurassic sauropod dinosaur from New Mexico. Archived 2019-10-08 at the Wayback Machine The Geological Society of America, 2004 Denver Annual Meeting.
- ↑ Foster J.R., ed. (2006). "Taxonomic status of Seismosaurus hallorum, a late Jurassic sauropod dinosaur from New Mexico". Paleontology and geology of the Upper Morrison Formation. Bulletin. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science (bulletin 36). pp. 149–161. ISSN 1524-4156.