Atlasaurus
Middle Jurassic sauropod from the Atlas Mountains of Morocco.
Atlasaurus is a genus of sauropod dinosaurs that lived during the Middle Jurassic in North Africa. Its remains have been found in Bathonian to Callovian stage deposits.
Quick Facts
- Species
- imelakei
Facts from the source article.
Discovery and naming
The nearly complete skeleton and skull of Atlasaurus were unearthed in 1981 at Wawmda, Morocco, and formally described in 1999. Its name combines the High Atlas mountain range—linked to the Titan Atlas—with its length of about 15 meters. The species name imelakei derives from the Arabic word for "giant." A second specimen, a near-complete tail, was recovered in Morocco, reassembled in Utah over 300 hours, and later auctioned in January 2018 to fund school repairs after the 2017 Puebla earthquake. Additional fragmentary remains from multiple individuals have been found in the same Guettioua Formation.
Description
Atlasaurus had a bigger skull and a shorter, more uniform neck than Brachiosaurus, with at least 13 vertebrae. Its tail was longer, its limbs more elongated, and its spoon-shaped teeth had denticles. The lower jaw measured about 69 cm, the neck roughly 3.86 m, the humerus 1.95 m, and the femur about 2 m. This dinosaur reached an estimated 15 m in length and weighed 22.5 t.
More in Middle Jurassic Dinosaurs
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