Study Shows This Dinosaur Could Be The Longest Ever | Science and Ecology | DW

The supersaurus (“Super lizard”) is the longest dinosaur ever to roam the planet, measuring more than 40 meters from snout to tail, according to a new study. The discovery comes after scientists corrected a fossil confusion and analyzed new bones extracted from the long-necked dinosaur’s final resting place.

He thought his name aptly supersaurusThe double-necked, long-necked sauropod whose whip-like tail lasted for several days lived about 150 million years ago, during the Jurassic period.

The new findings, which have not yet been peer-reviewed, now show that “this was the tallest dinosaur based on a decent skeleton,” measuring between 39 to 42 meters from snout to tail.

The finds were presented online this month at the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology’s annual conference.

If the results of this study are confirmed, then supersaurus It would be taller than any other known dinosaur, including its other competitor, the DiplodocusWhich would have been about 33 meters long, according to a 2006 study by researchers at the University of Western Australia.

“bone salad”

The first sample of supersaurus It was discovered in 1972 in a packed bone bed, said Brian Curtis, a paleontologist at the Arizona Museum of Natural History, in what was essentially a “bone salad,” so it wasn’t immediately clear which bones belonged to the monster. Leading the investigation, to Live Science.

The discoveries were made by dinosaur field worker Jim Jensen, who collected and prepared fossils for Brigham Young University in Utah at the Dry Mesa dinosaur quarry in Colorado.

In 1985, Jensen, who was not an expert in paleontology, published a study containing errors in his analysis announcing the discovery of three new sauropod dinosaurs from the quarry, which were later named Ultrasaurus And Dystylosaurus, As mentioned Live Science.

Dr. Brian Curtis works at the Dry Mesa dinosaur quarry, where the “Supersaurus” was originally found.

All bones will be unique supersaurus

Thus, over the years, paleontologists have debated whether Ultrasaurus And Dystylosaurus They were valid discoveries. Curtis is now collecting in his study the evidence that the bones have been misidentified and that they all actually belong to a single individual. supersaurus.

For example, one of the other shoulder bones — the two joined bones that form the shoulder girdle of adult dinosaurs and other reptiles — that Jensen discovered in 1972 at the site was about 25 centimeters longer than the other, leading many scientists to believe. Belongs to a different genus of dinosaurs.

But the current study showed that the bone was indeed deformed, and once the discrepancies in length due to cracks were accounted for in another scapulocoracoid specimen, the fossil matched those in supersaurus.

“The new items indicate that supersaurus Curtis said it would have been more than 39 metres, “adding that the giant’s neck can only exceed 16 metres.

Edited by Felipe Espinosa Wang.