Lost specimen of giant sauropod dinosaur from Colorado
Maraapunisaurus
Temporal range: Late Jurassic, 150 Ma
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Original illustration, dating to c. 1878, of E. D. Cope's M. fragillimus specimen
Scientific classification
Domain:
Eukaryota
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Clade:
Dinosauria
Clade:
Saurischia
Clade:
†Sauropodomorpha
Clade:
†Sauropoda
Superfamily:
†Diplodocoidea
Family:
†Rebbachisauridae
Genus:
†Maraapunisaurus Carpenter, 2018
Species:
†M. fragillimus
Binomial name
†Maraapunisaurus fragillimus
(Cope, 1878)
Synonyms
Amphicoelias fragillimus Cope, 1878
Comparison of Maraapunisaurus (left) with the rebbachisaurids Rebbachisaurus (center) and Histriasaurus (right).Neural spine of Maraapunisaurus as drawn by E.D. Cope with parts labeled. The key rebbachisaurid features are the spinopostzygapophyseal laminae that extends dorsomedially from the postzygapophyses to join and form the postspinal lamina, and the pneumatic neural spine and arch. Other rebbachisaurid features include the rather simple ("attenuated") structure of the neural spine and the respective inclinations of the centrodiapophyseal lamina and the postzygodiapophyseal laminae.
Maraapunisaurus is a genus of sauropod dinosaur from the Late Jurassic Morrison Formation of western North America. Originally named Amphicoelias fragillimus, it has sometimes been estimated to be the largest dinosaur specimen ever discovered. Based on surviving descriptions of a single fossil bone, scientists have produced numerous size estimates over the years; the largest estimate M. fragillimus to have been the longest known animal at 58 metres (190 ft) in length with a mass of 150 tonnes (150 long tons; 170 short tons). However, because the only fossil remains were lost at some point after being studied and described in the 1870s, evidence survived only in contemporary drawings and field notes.
More recent studies have made a number of suggestions regarding the possibility of such an animal. One analysis of the surviving evidence, and the biological plausibility of such a large land animal, has suggested that the enormous size of this animal were over-estimates due partly to typographical errors in the original 1878 description.[1] More recently, it was suggested by paleontologist Kenneth Carpenter that the species is a rebbachisaurid, rather than a diplodocid sauropod. He therefore used Limaysaurus instead of Diplodocus as a basis for size estimates. This resulted in a smaller, 31-metre (102 ft) animal, and he dismissed the idea that there must have been typographical errors.[2] Since then, somewhat larger size estimates have been made, placing Maraapunisaurus at 70[3]
―120[4] tons in mass and 35–40 metres (115–131 ft) long, which still makes Maraapunisaurus the third longest animal to have ever lived behind Bruhathkayosaurus and - if one were to count extremely abnormal Barosaurus specimens - BYU 9024, as well as having the tallest and largest neural spine out of any animal (2.7-metre (8.9 ft)).[5][3]
^Woodruff, C; Foster, JR (2015). "The fragile legacy of Amphicoelias fragillimus (Dinosauria: Sauropoda; Morrison Formation – Latest Jurassic)". PeerJ PrePrints. doi:10.7287/peerj.preprints.838v1.
^Carpenter, Kenneth (2018). "Maraapunisaurus fragillimus, N.G. (formerly Amphicoelias fragillimus), a basal Rebbachisaurid from the Morrison Formation (Upper Jurassic) of Colorado". Geology of the Intermountain West. 5: 227–244. doi:10.31711/giw.v5i0.28.
^ abMOLINA-PEREZ, RUBEN. LARRAMENDI, ASIER. (2020). DINOSAUR FACTS AND FIGURES : the sauropods and other sauropodomorphs. New Jersey: Princeton University Press. p. 254. ISBN 978-0-691-19069-3. OCLC 1125972915.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^Paul, Gregory S. (2019). "Determining the largest known land animal: A critical comparison of differing methods for restoring the volume and mass of extinct animals" (PDF). Annals of the Carnegie Museum. 85 (4): 335–358. doi:10.2992/007.085.0403. S2CID 210840060.
^Paul, Gregory S. (2019). "Determining the largest known land animal: A critical comparison of differing methods for restoring the volume and mass of extinct animals" (PDF). Annals of the Carnegie Museum. 85 (4): 335–358. doi:10.2992/007.085.0403. S2CID 210840060.
been made, placing Maraapunisaurus at 70 ―120 tons in mass and 35–40 metres (115–131 ft) long, which still makes Maraapunisaurus the third longest animal...
sauropod that shares similar size estimates to Bruhathkayosaurus is Maraapunisaurus fragillimus, which is based on a now-missing dorsal vertebra. In 2006...
that reached the size of larger sauropods were Rebbachisaurus and Maraapunisaurus. The skull of Nigersaurus was delicate, with the four side fenestrae...
the highest estimate of a given research paper. One large sauropod, Maraapunisaurus fragillimus, was based on particularly scant remains that have been...
diplodocid to the shorter but much stockier rebbachisaurid. Now renamed as Maraapunisaurus, this sauropod now stands as much as 40 meters (130 ft) long and weigh...
it does not hold records for either the longest or most massive. Maraapunisaurus or Argentinosaurus make better candidates for the title "World's Largest...
Kenneth Carpenter renamed Amphicoelias fragillimus as the new genus Maraapunisaurus, and reclassified it from Diplodocidae to Rebbachisauridae. In 1877...
large rebbachisaurid. Aside from the controversial giant sauropod Maraapunisaurus which may be a rebbachisaurid, Sidersaura may represent one of the...
several other exceptionally large dinosaurs, such as Saurophaganax and Maraapunisaurus. Despite being the first discovered species of Camarasaurus, C. supremus...
large sauropods like Bruhathkayosaurus (mean weight: 110–170 tons) and Maraapunisaurus (mean weight: 80–120 tons) would have easily rivalled the blue whale...
Argentinosaurus was the largest-known titanosaur, other sauropods including Maraapunisaurus and a giant mamenchisaurid, may have been larger, although these are...
holotype (and now lost) vertebra of Amphicoelias fragillimus (now Maraapunisaurus) may have come from an animal 58 metres (190 ft) long; its vertebral...
92-120 tons. Two other such sauropods include Bruhathkayosaurus and Maraapunisaurus. Both are known only from fragments that no longer exist. Bruhathkayosaurus...
Brontosaurus, Barosaurus, Diplodocus, Supersaurus, Amphicoelias, and Maraapunisaurus, and the ornithischians Camptosaurus, Dryosaurus, and Stegosaurus....
those known from exceedingly poor remains, such as Amphicoelias or Maraapunisaurus). The estimated length was later revised downward to 30.5–35 m (100–115 ft)...
environment and time dominated by gigantic sauropod dinosaurs such as Maraapunisaurus, Amphicoelias, Barosaurus, Diplodocus, Apatosaurus, Brontosaurus, and...
sauropodomorph Yunnanosaurus youngi reached 13 m (43 ft) long. A mega-sauropod, Maraapunisaurus fragillimus (previously known as Amphicoelias fragillimus), is a contender...
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