Super monster revealed in America, some vertebrae are a meter long

(NLDO) - Oversized bones of a 152-155 million year old monster were found in Colorado, USA, and could be a new species.

According to Sci-News , a research team from Western University of Health Sciences, Brigham Young University, Arizona Museum of Natural History and Auburn University (USA) has described a new specimen of a monster belonging to the Haplocanthosaurus dinosaur genus.

Sauropods were the largest land animals that ever existed on Earth - Illustration AI: Thu Anh

"Haplocanthosaurus is a mysterious group of sauropod dinosaurs from the Late Jurassic Morrison Formation of the western United States," said paleontologist Mathew Wedel from Western University of Health Sciences .

Only two species of this genus are known, Haplocanthosaurus delfsi and Haplocanthosaurus priscus.

However, paleontologists have not yet classified the newly discovered beast into either of the two species mentioned above. It is also possible that it represents a completely new species.

The giant body of the beast is outlined with excavated fossilized bones highlighted in white - Photo: THE ANATOMICAL RECORD

Fossilized bones of the beast were found at the Dry Mesa "dinosaur quarry" in Colorado, part of the Morrison Formation.

The article published in the scientific journal The Anatomical Record estimates that this monster lived about 152-155 million years ago.

Compared to other sauropod dinosaurs found in the region as well as around the world , Haplocanthosaurus was still "small-sized".

However, among the bones that scientists collected, just four consecutive vertebrae in the back were already up to 1 meter long.

Because sauropods - long necks, long tails and four legs as sturdy as pillars - are the world's largest group of land animals. The largest ever found - belonging to the Titanosaurus branch - is estimated to have weighed up to 69 kg when alive.

This is a valuable discovery because the fossil record of the genus Haplocanthosaurus is still scarce.

Scientists also suspect that they were an intermediate branch, representing an important evolutionary step in the Sauropod lineage.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/phat-hien-sieu-quai-thu-o-my-vai-dot-song-da-dai-ca-met-196241231105100326.htm