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Camarasaurus
Camarasaurus (/ˌkæmərəˈsɔːrəs/ KAM-ər-ə-SOR-əs) is a genus of sauropod dinosaur that lived during the Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian to Tithonian ages, c. 155 to 143 million years ago) in North America. Over 530 specimens have been found in rocks of the Morrison Formation in the western United States, including several nearly complete skeletons. It is the most common dinosaur in the Morrison Formation and one of the best understood sauropods.
Camarasaurus was a bulky sauropod with a proportionally wide rib cage. The skull was proportionally larger and more strongly built than that of other sauropods, with powerful jaws allowing for high bite forces. It had 13–14 teeth in each side of the upper jaw and 13 teeth in each side of the lower jaw. The teeth were spoon-shaped, tilted forwards, and rapidly replaced. Camarasaurus was probably a selective feeder that fed at heights of 2 to 5 m (7 to 16 ft). Specimens range from a presumed embryo to an individual that probably reached 40 years of age, one of the highest ages reported for an individual dinosaur. Skin impressions have been found with one specimen, and multiple specimens show signs of injury or disease such as bite marks, traumata, and arthritis. Individuals might have seasonally migrated to avoid the dry season in the Morrison basin.
The name Camarasaurus means 'chambered lizard', referring to the internal chambers of the vertebrae in the back and neck. The genus was named in 1877 by Edward Drinker Cope, based on fossils from Garden Park, Colorado. Soon after, Cope's rival Othniel Charles Marsh named the new genus Morosaurus from specimens found in Como Bluff, Wyoming. Morosaurus and its species were later assigned to Camarasaurus. Probably in 1879, a life-sized drawing of the reconstructed skeleton was made, the oldest known reconstruction of a sauropod. From 1909, several largely complete skeletons have been discovered in Carnegie Quarry at what is now Dinosaur National Monument; some specimens, including a nearly complete skull, remain in the quarry wall.
Four species are commonly recognized: C. supremus, C. grandis, C. lentus, and C. lewisi. The most common species, C. lentus, was around 15 m (49 ft) in length, while C. supremus was considerably larger. C. supremus might have been the youngest species, mostly occurring at the top of the Morrison Formation. Camarasaurus is a member of the group Macronaria. Some paleontologists have grouped Camarasaurus with genera like Tehuelchesaurus and Lourinhasaurus in the family Camarasauridae.
Camarasaurus was discovered during the Bone Wars, a feud between two American paleontologists, Othniel Charles Marsh and Edward Drinker Cope, that led to a surge of fossil discoveries in the Western US in the late 19th century. In early 1877, David Baldwin, one of Marsh's fossil collectors, discovered very large bones at Garden Park, Colorado, at a peak locally known as 'The Nipple'. Baldwin found the bones while visiting the discovery site of an alleged fossil bird, but neither he nor Marsh were interested in collecting them. Shortly after, the same bones were discovered by the local teacher Oramel W. Lucas during a hunting trip. Lucas then wrote to Cope, who offered him payment for excavating the fossils. The first fossil that Cope received from Lucas was the jaw of a theropod, which Cope named Laelaps trihedrodon in a brief publication. The second shipment from Lucas contained one cervical (neck vertebra), three dorsals (trunk vertebrae), and four caudals (tail vertebrae) of a much larger animal, described by Cope as "the largest or most bulky animal capable of progression on land, of which we have any account".
Cope gave these fossils the name Camarasaurus supremus in another quickly written 1877 publication. The name Camarasaurus means "chamber lizard", from the Greek kamara 'chamber' and sauros 'lizard', alluding to the internal chambers of the cervical and dorsal vertebrae that, according to Cope, were "lighter in proportion to their bulk than in any air-breathing vertebrate". The specific name supremus is Latin for 'supreme'. Lucas and his brother, Ira H. Lucas, continued to send additional bones of the new dinosaur to Cope until 1884; together, these bones represented most of the skeleton. In 1879, Cope named a second species of Camarasaurus, C. leptodirus, based on three fragmentary neck vertebrae that he thought were much more slender than those of C. supremus. For decades after its discovery, Camarasaurus would remain a relatively obscure taxon compared to the more complete and more extensively figured sauropods discovered by Cope's opponent Marsh. After Cope's death in 1897, his collection was acquired by the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH). The eight vertebrae originally described by Cope (catalogued as AMNH 5760) constitute the type material of C. supremus and probably stem from two individuals. In 1901, fossil collectors of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History excavated around 'The Nipple' for two months but failed to recover any additional bones other than fragments.
Probably in early 1879, zoologist John A. Ryder created a life-sized drawing of the reconstructed skeleton on sheets of linen under the direction of Cope. The drawing was 68 ft (21 m) in length and based on known Camarasaurus bones as well as the reconstructed limbs of Morosaurus grandis published by Marsh a few months earlier. Little was known of the skull at the time, and since most modern reptiles are carnivorous, it was assumed that the same applied to Camarasaurus. Consequently, the hypothetical skull bore long, sharp teeth. This drawing is the first skeletal reconstruction of a sauropod ever made, although it was only published by Charles Craig Mook in 1914, at a much smaller scale of 1/100 natural size. In 1885, naturalist Charles Frederick Holder published a drawing of a living Camarasaurus, which might have been the first life restoration of a sauropod. The neck, tail, and limbs are depicted as very slender, and the snout features a short trunk.
On March 7, 1877, at roughly the same time when Lucas began collecting Camarasaurus bones at Garden Park, the railway employee William Harlow Reed found fossil bones on a hill south of Como Station, Wyoming. This locality was to become one of the first major dinosaur sites: Como Bluff. Together with his colleague William Edward Carlin, Reed sent some of the bones to Marsh, including some articulated (connected) tail vertebrae, a dorsal (back) vertebra, and two limb bones. Although Reed and Carlin thought the bones came from the ground sloth Megatherium, Marsh recognized their dinosaurian nature and sent his assistant Samuel Wendell Williston to oversee and assist with collecting. Williston was staggered when seeing the locality, reporting "magnificently preserved" dinosaur bones "scattered for 6 or seven miles".
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Camarasaurus
Camarasaurus (/ˌkæmərəˈsɔːrəs/ KAM-ər-ə-SOR-əs) is a genus of sauropod dinosaur that lived during the Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian to Tithonian ages, c. 155 to 143 million years ago) in North America. Over 530 specimens have been found in rocks of the Morrison Formation in the western United States, including several nearly complete skeletons. It is the most common dinosaur in the Morrison Formation and one of the best understood sauropods.
Camarasaurus was a bulky sauropod with a proportionally wide rib cage. The skull was proportionally larger and more strongly built than that of other sauropods, with powerful jaws allowing for high bite forces. It had 13–14 teeth in each side of the upper jaw and 13 teeth in each side of the lower jaw. The teeth were spoon-shaped, tilted forwards, and rapidly replaced. Camarasaurus was probably a selective feeder that fed at heights of 2 to 5 m (7 to 16 ft). Specimens range from a presumed embryo to an individual that probably reached 40 years of age, one of the highest ages reported for an individual dinosaur. Skin impressions have been found with one specimen, and multiple specimens show signs of injury or disease such as bite marks, traumata, and arthritis. Individuals might have seasonally migrated to avoid the dry season in the Morrison basin.
The name Camarasaurus means 'chambered lizard', referring to the internal chambers of the vertebrae in the back and neck. The genus was named in 1877 by Edward Drinker Cope, based on fossils from Garden Park, Colorado. Soon after, Cope's rival Othniel Charles Marsh named the new genus Morosaurus from specimens found in Como Bluff, Wyoming. Morosaurus and its species were later assigned to Camarasaurus. Probably in 1879, a life-sized drawing of the reconstructed skeleton was made, the oldest known reconstruction of a sauropod. From 1909, several largely complete skeletons have been discovered in Carnegie Quarry at what is now Dinosaur National Monument; some specimens, including a nearly complete skull, remain in the quarry wall.
Four species are commonly recognized: C. supremus, C. grandis, C. lentus, and C. lewisi. The most common species, C. lentus, was around 15 m (49 ft) in length, while C. supremus was considerably larger. C. supremus might have been the youngest species, mostly occurring at the top of the Morrison Formation. Camarasaurus is a member of the group Macronaria. Some paleontologists have grouped Camarasaurus with genera like Tehuelchesaurus and Lourinhasaurus in the family Camarasauridae.
Camarasaurus was discovered during the Bone Wars, a feud between two American paleontologists, Othniel Charles Marsh and Edward Drinker Cope, that led to a surge of fossil discoveries in the Western US in the late 19th century. In early 1877, David Baldwin, one of Marsh's fossil collectors, discovered very large bones at Garden Park, Colorado, at a peak locally known as 'The Nipple'. Baldwin found the bones while visiting the discovery site of an alleged fossil bird, but neither he nor Marsh were interested in collecting them. Shortly after, the same bones were discovered by the local teacher Oramel W. Lucas during a hunting trip. Lucas then wrote to Cope, who offered him payment for excavating the fossils. The first fossil that Cope received from Lucas was the jaw of a theropod, which Cope named Laelaps trihedrodon in a brief publication. The second shipment from Lucas contained one cervical (neck vertebra), three dorsals (trunk vertebrae), and four caudals (tail vertebrae) of a much larger animal, described by Cope as "the largest or most bulky animal capable of progression on land, of which we have any account".
Cope gave these fossils the name Camarasaurus supremus in another quickly written 1877 publication. The name Camarasaurus means "chamber lizard", from the Greek kamara 'chamber' and sauros 'lizard', alluding to the internal chambers of the cervical and dorsal vertebrae that, according to Cope, were "lighter in proportion to their bulk than in any air-breathing vertebrate". The specific name supremus is Latin for 'supreme'. Lucas and his brother, Ira H. Lucas, continued to send additional bones of the new dinosaur to Cope until 1884; together, these bones represented most of the skeleton. In 1879, Cope named a second species of Camarasaurus, C. leptodirus, based on three fragmentary neck vertebrae that he thought were much more slender than those of C. supremus. For decades after its discovery, Camarasaurus would remain a relatively obscure taxon compared to the more complete and more extensively figured sauropods discovered by Cope's opponent Marsh. After Cope's death in 1897, his collection was acquired by the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH). The eight vertebrae originally described by Cope (catalogued as AMNH 5760) constitute the type material of C. supremus and probably stem from two individuals. In 1901, fossil collectors of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History excavated around 'The Nipple' for two months but failed to recover any additional bones other than fragments.
Probably in early 1879, zoologist John A. Ryder created a life-sized drawing of the reconstructed skeleton on sheets of linen under the direction of Cope. The drawing was 68 ft (21 m) in length and based on known Camarasaurus bones as well as the reconstructed limbs of Morosaurus grandis published by Marsh a few months earlier. Little was known of the skull at the time, and since most modern reptiles are carnivorous, it was assumed that the same applied to Camarasaurus. Consequently, the hypothetical skull bore long, sharp teeth. This drawing is the first skeletal reconstruction of a sauropod ever made, although it was only published by Charles Craig Mook in 1914, at a much smaller scale of 1/100 natural size. In 1885, naturalist Charles Frederick Holder published a drawing of a living Camarasaurus, which might have been the first life restoration of a sauropod. The neck, tail, and limbs are depicted as very slender, and the snout features a short trunk.
On March 7, 1877, at roughly the same time when Lucas began collecting Camarasaurus bones at Garden Park, the railway employee William Harlow Reed found fossil bones on a hill south of Como Station, Wyoming. This locality was to become one of the first major dinosaur sites: Como Bluff. Together with his colleague William Edward Carlin, Reed sent some of the bones to Marsh, including some articulated (connected) tail vertebrae, a dorsal (back) vertebra, and two limb bones. Although Reed and Carlin thought the bones came from the ground sloth Megatherium, Marsh recognized their dinosaurian nature and sent his assistant Samuel Wendell Williston to oversee and assist with collecting. Williston was staggered when seeing the locality, reporting "magnificently preserved" dinosaur bones "scattered for 6 or seven miles".
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