Amphicoelias
A moderately sized sauropod with disputed fossil remains.
In December 1877, paleontologist Edward Drinker Cope named the genus based on fossils discovered by Oramel William Lucas; the specimen including dorsal vertebrae, a pubis, and a femur was found by Aaron Ripley.[1] Cope believed Amphicoelias was a sauropod related to Camarasaurus, characterized by vertebrae that were lightly built and limbs that were solid.[1]
Quick Facts
- Species
- altus
Facts from the source article.
Life and work
Fossils including dorsal vertebrae, a pubis, and a femur were sent to Cope on October 21, 1877.[1] Cope named the type species Amphicoelias altus in December 1877.[1] Paleontologists Henry Fairfield Osborn and Charles Mook added forelimb material to the holotype in 1921.[2] In 2015, Emanuel Tschopp and colleagues hesitantly rejected referral of the tooth, scapula, and coracoid but accepted the ulna.[2]
The specimen was determined to come from the youngest layers of the Morrison Formation.[2] The American Museum of Natural History acquired Cope's fossil collection through a sale in 1895.[1] Prior to his 1897 death, Cope collaborated with artist Charles R. Knight to create illustrations of Amphicoelias.[2] According to Cope's notes, he regarded Amphicoelias as synonymous with Camarasaurus supremus during that period.[2]
What the cited sources add
Taylor reports that the lead author disclaimed the paper as a drafted manuscript with typos, not a final paper.[3] Taylor notes that commenter Bill Parker rejected this explanation.[3] Taylor mentions that commenter Mickey Mortimer questioned what the Amphicoelias brontodiplodocus specimens actually are.[3] A 2010 blog post by Taylor mentions that Galiano and Albersdorfer described a new species, Amphicoelias brontodiplodocus, using specimens from a quarry in the Big Horn Basin, Wyoming.[3]
References
- Wikipedia, "Amphicoelias" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Cope, "On the Vertebrata of the Dakota Epoch of Colorado", Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 1878a, p. 233–247; J.S. McIntosh, 1998, "New information about the Cope collection of sauropods from the Garden Park, Colorado", In: Carpenter, K., Chure, D. and Kirkland, J.I. (e; Cope, "On Amphicoelias, a genus of Saurians from the Dakota epoch of Colorado", Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 1877, p. 242–246; Cope, "On the Vertebrata of the Dakota Epoch of Colorado", Proceedings of the American Philosophical Soci en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Amphicoelias" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Osborn, "Camarasaurus, Amphicoelias and other sauropods of Cope", Memoirs of the American Museum of Natural History, 1921, p. 249–387; Tschopp, "A specimen-level phylogenetic analysis and taxonomic revision of Diplodocidae (Dinosauria, Sauropoda)", PeerJ, 2015, p. e857; Osborn, "Camarasaurus, Amphicoelias and other sauropods of Cope", Memoirs of the American Museum of Natural History, 1921, p. 249–387 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Taylor, "The elephant in the living room: Amphicoelias brontodiplodocus", Sauropod Vertebra Picture of the Week, October 7, 2010. facts only, no text reused. svpow.com
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Amphicoelias (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
More in Dinosaurs of the United States
Spotted an error? Know more?
Reader corrections go straight into our review queue. Suggest an edit · How this site is sourced