Smitanosaurus
Name:
Smitanosaurus
(Smith lizard).
Phonetic: Smit-an-o-sor-us.
Named By: John A. Whitlock & Jeffrey A.
Wilson Mantilla - 2020.
Synonyms: Camarasaurus agilis, Morosaurus
agilis.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Dinosauria,
Saurishcia, Sauropoda, Dicraeosauridae.
Species: S. agilis (type).
Diet: Herbivore.
Size: Unknown due to lack of remains.
Known locations: USA, Colorado.
Time period: Late Jurassic.
Fossil representation: Partial back of the skull and
three cervical (neck) vertebrae.
Fossils
of Smitanosaurus have in the past been attributed
to Morosaurus
and
subsequently Camarasaurus,
but a study in 2020 found them to
represent a distinct genus. Instead of being a macronarian sauropod
dinosaur like Camarasaurus, Smitanosaurus
is instead thought to
have been a dicraeosaurid sauropod dinosaur. Smitanosaurus
is named
after J. August Smith, the person who originally excavated and
sketched the holotype fossils.
Further reading
- Notice of new American Dinosauria. - The American Journal of
Science and Arts, series 3 38:331-336. - O. C. Marsh -
1889.
- The type of the Jurassic reptile Morosaurus agilis
redescribed,
with a note on Camptosaurus. - Proceedings of
the United States
National Museum 32: 151–165. - C. W. Gilmore - 1907.
- The Late Jurassic sauropod dinosaur 'Morosaurus'
agilis Marsh,
1889 reexamined and reinterpreted as a dicraeosaurid. - Journal
of Vertebrate Paleontology. Online edition: e1780600. - John
A. Whitlock & Jeffrey A. Wilson Mantilla - 2020.
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