Camarasaurus
| Camarasaurus | ||||||||||||
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Life picture of Camarasaurus supremus |
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| Temporal occurrence | ||||||||||||
| Upper Jurassic ( Kimmeridgian to Tithonian ) | ||||||||||||
| 157.3 to 145 million years | ||||||||||||
| Locations | ||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Camarasaurus | ||||||||||||
| Cope , 1877 |
Camarasaurus was a genus of dinosaur from the group of sauropods . It lived in the Upper Jurassic in North America and Europe and is one of the most common genera from this group.
features
Camarasaurus had the typical physique of the sauropods: four strong legs carried the body. The neck and tail were elongated - albeit shorter than other sauropods. The comparatively large, but lightly built head ended in a blunt snout. The head was so light because it had very large skull windows. Hence the name: Camarasaurus = Chambered Lizard. The large nostrils were in front of the eyes and may be signs of a good sense of smell. The teeth were large and spatulate.
The strong legs ended in five toes, the innermost toe of the hind legs had an enlarged claw. The front legs were only slightly shorter than the rear legs, which made the back almost level. The vertebrae were hollow as in many later sauropods, which save weight served. Overall, the animals were around 18 meters long and reached an estimated weight of up to 18 tons.
Of Camarasaurus also juveniles were found. They had large heads and shorter necks and tails compared to adults.
Way of life
Skeletons of several animals have been found close together, suggesting that Camarasaurus lived in herds or at least family groups. Eggs were also found, these were laid in a line one behind the other and not in a nest. It is believed that this dinosaur did not care about its eggs or offspring.
Finds and species
The first skeletons of Camarasaurus were discovered in Colorado in 1877 and bought by Edward Drinker Cope - he was in a prestigious duel, the " Bone Wars ", with Othniel Charles Marsh . Cope named the finds Camarasaurus ( old Greek : "chambered lizard"), presumably based on the hollow vertebrae. In 1925 the complete skeleton, that of a young animal, was discovered for the first time. Other finds are known from the American Midwest and also from Portugal, they are assigned to the following species:
- C. alenquerensis (Lapparent & Zbyszewski, 1957) lived in the Upper Jurassic ( Oxfordian and Kimmeridgian ) in what is now Portugal and was 18 meters long. When the animal was found, it was thought to be an Apatosaurus and was therefore called Apatosaurus alenquerensis .
- C. grandis ( Marsh , 1877) lived in the Kimmeridgian and Tithonian in today's USA ( Wyoming , Colorado , Montana ). Six partial skeletons of this species have been found, two of them with skulls. It was first described under the protonym Apatosaurus grandis Marsh, in 1877.
- C. annae Ellinger, 1950 lived in the Kimmeridgian and Tithonian in what is now the USA ( Utah )
- C. lentus (Marsh, 1889) lived in the Kimmeridgian and Tithonian in what is now the USA ( Wyoming , Utah ) and was described under the protonym Morosaurus lentus Marsh in 1889.
- C. leptodirus Cope , 1879 lived in the Kimmeridgian and Tithonian in what is now the United States.
- C. lewisi ( Jensen , 1988) lived in the Kimmeridgian and Tithonian in today's USA ( Colorado ) and was originally placed in a separate genus Cathetosaurus .
- C. supremus Cope, 1877 lived in the Kimmeridgian and Tithonian in what is now the United States ( Colorado , New Mexico , Wyoming ) and was 18 meters long. Five partial skeletons of this species have been found.
Systematics
Camarasaurus is the eponymous member of the Camarasauridae , a group of sauropods mainly found in the Upper Jurassic.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Gregory S. Paul : The Princeton Field Guide To Dinosaurs. Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ et al. 2010, ISBN 978-0-691-13720-9 , pp. 196–198, Online ( Memento of the original of July 13, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .
