Haplocanthosaurus priscus
"simple spined lizard"
- Length
- 5 m (16.4 ft)
- Period
- Late Jurassic (155–152 Mya)
- Place
- North America · United States · India · Utah, USA
- Food
- Herbivore
- Clade
- Dinosauria The clade containing all dinosaurs, terrestrial archosaurs with upright limbs.
Haplocanthosaurus (meaning “simple spined lizard”) is a genus of diplodocoid sauropod dinosaur. Two species, H. delfsi and H. priscus, are known from incomplete fossil skeletons. They lived during the Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian stage), 155 to 152 million years ago in North America. The type species is H. priscus, named in 1903 John Bell Hatcher , and the referred species H. delfsi was discovered by a young college student named Edwin Delfs in Colorado, United States and described by Jack McIntosh and Michael Williams in 1988. Haplocanthosaurus specimens have been found in the lowermost layer of the Morrison Formation, along with Hesperosaurus mjosi, Brontosaurus yahnahpin, and Allosaurus jimmadseni.
What we know
- Named by Hatcher, 1903 (conserved name).
- Fossils found in North America and United States.
What we guess
The reconstruction notes for Haplocanthosaurus — soft tissue, color, behavior — haven't been written up yet. Only the recorded basics above are filled in so far.