Dinosaurs A to Z
Dicraeosauridae

Dyslocosaurus polyonychius

"hard-to-place lizard"

Generic sauropod body-plan outline
You 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall
Dyslocosaurus 5 m (16.4 ft) long
as long as 3 people standing fingertip to fingertip
generic sauropod body plan, scaled to length — not a silhouette of Dyslocosaurus
Length
5 m (16.4 ft)
Period
Late Jurassic (163–145 Mya)
Place
North America · Wyoming, USA
Food
Herbivore
Clade
Dicraeosauridae

Dyslocosaurus (meaning “hard-to-place lizard”) a genus of sauropod dinosaur from the Late Jurassic Period of Wyoming, North America. The holotype or type specimen the genus is based on, AC 663, is part of the collection of the Amherst College Museum of Natural History. It was collected by professor Frederic Brewster Loomis. However, the only available information regarding its provenance is that given on the label: “Lance Creek”, a county in east Wyoming. Loomis himself thought that it stemmed from the Lance Formation, dating from the Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian).

What we know

  • Named by McIntosh, Coombs, and Russell, 1992.
  • Fossils found in North America and Wyoming, USA.

What we guess

The reconstruction notes for Dyslocosaurus — soft tissue, color, behavior — haven't been written up yet. Only the recorded basics above are filled in so far.