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long-neck giant · Doubtful name
Bothriospondylus
Say it like this: “BOTH-ree-o-SPON-di-lus”
Bothriospondylus suffossus
Bothriospondylus ate plants and walked on four legs. It lived in the Late Jurassic. Bones have been found in the United Kingdom.
- When
- Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian) · roughly 154.8 to 149.2 million years ago
- Named in
- 1874 · Owen, R.
- Hip height
- Not established
- Length
- 14 m · 46 ft
- Weight
- 16 tonnes
- Found in
- the United Kingdom · Kimmeridge Clay
- Food and walking
- Herbivore · Four legs
- Kind
- long-neck giant · Sauropod
- Family branch
- Neosauropoda
The story in short
The genus Bothriospondylus dates to 1874, the year R. Owen described it. The name means “trench vertebra.”
Fossils referred to Bothriospondylus date to the Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian), roughly 154.8 to 149.2 million years ago. Finds come from the United Kingdom, including the Kimmeridge Clay Formation. It was a herbivore and walked on four legs.
Published estimates put Bothriospondylus at a length near 14 m and a body mass around 16 tonnes.
On the family tree it sits in Neosauropoda, among the sauropod dinosaurs.