Ultrasauros

ultra lizard ("beyond lizard")

• ultra · Latin · beyond, extreme
• sauros · Greek · lizard

The name combines the Latin "ultra" (beyond, extreme) with the Greek "sauros" (lizard), alluding to the enormous size that its describer thought the animal had. It was coined for a giant sauropod from the Dry Mesa Quarry, and the type species was Ultrasauros macintoshi. The name was introduced as a replacement for Jensen's earlier use of "Ultrasaurus", which was already taken by a Korean sauropod.

Named by

Jensen

Year named

1985

Period

Late Jurassic

Found in

Dry Mesa Quarry, Morrison Formation, Colorado, USA

Now regarded as a junior synonym of Supersaurus. The type dorsal vertebra was later shown to belong to Supersaurus, while other material originally attributed to it was from a brachiosaurid, so the name was based on a chimera. The spelling "Ultrasauros" is distinct from "Ultrasaurus" Kim, 1983, a different Korean sauropod name.