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Information about Dicraeosaurus

Dicraeosaurus

Conservation status
Extinct (fossil)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Sauropsida
Superorder:Dinosauria
Order:Saurischia
Suborder:Sauropodomorpha
Infraorder:Sauropoda
Superfamily:Diplodocoidea
Family:Dicraeosauridae
Genus:Dicraeosaurus
Janensch, 1914
Species
  • D. hansemanni (type)
  • D. sattleri Janensch, 1914


Dicraeosaurus (Gr. dikraios "bifurcated, double-headed" + Gr. sauros "lizard") was a small diplodocid that had many physical differences from the rest of the family. It was named for the spines on the back of the neck. Diplodocids were sauropods with long necks and tails, skinny bodies and limbs, and tiny brains and heads. They were light in relevance to the brachiosaurs, because their vertebrae were a lattice of bony struts, used to reduce weight and take maximum stress. They lived worldwide in the Late Jurassic and Cretaceous. Examples of diplodocids are Apatosaurus, Diplodocus, and Mamenchisaurus. The first fossil was described by paleontologist Werner Janensch in 1914.

Enlarge picture
Head reconstruction


Unlike most diplodocids, Dicraeosaurus had a large head since its neck was shorter and wider. It also lacked the whiplash tail that diplodocids had. Its size was also different. It only reached 41 feet in length. It gets its name, which means two-forked lizard, from the spines that came from the vertebrae. They were not straight as in some members of the family. Each one was “Y” shaped, like a fork. These spines also provided muscle attachment points.

Dicraeosaurus lived in the Late Jurassic, along with the other dinosaurs and kin that lived during that time. It was herbivorous, however, it didn’t compete with other dinosaurs for vegetation. Fossils have been discovered in the rocks of Tendaguru Hill in Tanzania. The rocks also yield fossils of Brachiosaurus and Kentrosaurus. This presents evidence that these were the herbivores that Dicraeosaurus lived with, so it would not have had to compete for food because they all grazed at different levels.

Enlarge picture
Artist's reconstruction of Dicraeosaurus

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conservation status of a species is an indicator of the likelihood of that species continuing to survive either in the present day or the future. Many factors are taken into account when assessing the conservation status of a species: not simply the number remaining, but the
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For other uses of the term, see Fossil (disambiguation)


FOSSIL is a standard for allowing serial communication for telecommunications programs under the DOS operating system.
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Scientific classification or biological classification is a method by which biologists group and categorize species of organisms. Scientific classification also can be called scientific taxonomy, but should be distinguished from folk taxonomy, which lacks scientific basis.
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Chordata
Bateson, 1885

Typical Classes

See below

Chordates (phylum Chordata) are a group of animals that includes the vertebrates, together with several closely related invertebrates.
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Sauropsida*
Goodrich, 1916

Subclasses
  • Anapsida
  • Diapsida
Synonyms
  • Reptilia Laurenti, 1768
Reptiles are tetrapods and amniotes, animals whose embryos are surrounded by an amniotic membrane, and members of the class
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Dinosauria *
Owen, 1842

Orders & Suborders
  • Ornithischia
  • Cerapoda
  • Thyreophora
  • Saurischia

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Saurischia
Seeley, 1887

Suborders
  • Theropoda
  • Sauropodomorpha


Saurischia (from the Greek sauros (σαυρος) meaning 'lizard' and ischion (
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Sauropodomorpha
von Huene, 1932

Infraorders

Prosauropoda
Sauropoda

The Sauropodomorpha were a group of long-necked, herbivorous dinosaurs that eventually dropped down on all fours and became the largest animals that ever walked the earth.
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Sauropoda
Marsh, 1878

Families

See text

Sauropoda, the sauropods, are a suborder or infraorder of the saurischian ("lizard-hipped") dinosaurs. They were the largest animals ever to have lived on land.
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Diplodocoidea
Marsh, 1884

Families
  • Dicraeosauridae
  • Diplodocidae
  • Rebbachisauridae


Diplodocoidea was a superfamily of sauropod dinosaurs, which included some of the longest animals of all time, including slender giants like
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Dicraeosauridae
Janensch, 1929

Genera
  • Amargasaurus
  • Dicraeosaurus
  • Brachytrachelopan
Dicraeosauridae
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Werner Ernst Martin Janensch (November 11, 1878 in Herzberg (Elster) - October 20, 1969 in Berlin) was a German paleontologist and geologist. Janensch's most famous contributions stemmed from the expedition he led with Edwin Hennig to the Tendaguru Beds in what is now Tanzania.
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species is one of the basic units of biological classification. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring.
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In biology, a type is that which fixes a name to a taxon. Depending on the nomenclature code which is applied to the organism in question, a type may be a specimen, culture, illustration, description or taxon.
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Diplodocidae
Marsh, 1884

Genera
  • ?Amphicoelias
  • Australodocus
  • Dinheirosaurus
  • Cetiosauriscus
  • Subfamily Apatosaurinae
  • Supersaurus

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The Jurassic Period is a major unit of the geologic timescale that extends from about 199.6 ± 0.6 Ma (million years ago) to 145.4 ± 4.0 Ma, the end of the Triassic to the beginning of the Cretaceous.
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The Cretaceous Period is one of the major divisions of the geologic timescale, reaching from the end of the Jurassic Period (i.e. from 145.5 ± 4.0 million years ago (Ma)) to the beginning of the Paleocene epoch of the Tertiary Period (about 65.5 ± 0.3 Ma).
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Apatosaurus
Marsh, 1877

Species
  • A. ajax (type)
  • A. excelsus (Marsh, 1879c) Riggs, 1903
  • A. louisae Holland, 1915
  • A.

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Diplodocus
Marsh, 1878

Species

D. carnegiei Hatcher, 1901
D. hallorum (Gillette, 1991) Lucas et al., 2004
D. hayi Holland, 1924
D.
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Mamenchisaurus
Young (1954)

Mamenchisaurus (pronounced mah-MUN-chee-SAW-rus; IPA: /mɑˈmʌntʃiˈsɔrəs/
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Werner Ernst Martin Janensch (November 11, 1878 in Herzberg (Elster) - October 20, 1969 in Berlin) was a German paleontologist and geologist. Janensch's most famous contributions stemmed from the expedition he led with Edwin Hennig to the Tendaguru Beds in what is now Tanzania.
..... Click the link for more information.
The Jurassic Period is a major unit of the geologic timescale that extends from about 199.6 ± 0.6 Ma (million years ago) to 145.4 ± 4.0 Ma, the end of the Triassic to the beginning of the Cretaceous.
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Motto
"Uhuru na Umoja"   (Swahili)
"Freedom and Unity"
Anthem
Mungu ibariki Afrika
"God Bless Africa"
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Brachiosaurus
Riggs, 1903

Species

B. altithorax Riggs, 1903 (type)
B. brancai Janensch, 1914
?B. nougaredi de Lapparent, 1960

Synonyms

Giraffatitan Paul, 1988
Abdallahsaurus
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Kentrosaurus

Species

K. aethiopicus (type)
?K. longispinus

Kentrosaurus meaning 'pointed lizard' (pronounced: KEN-troh-Saw-rus)(from the Greek kentron/κεντρον
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