Sonorasaurus thompsoni

In 1994 Richard Thompson, a geology student at the University of Arizona stumbled across several bone fragments in the Sonoran Desert of Arizona. The specimen turned out to be a completely new type of brachiosaurid dinosaur and the first known sauropod from the Middle Cretaceous of North America. Gouge marks discovered on the bones of Sonorasaurus and a tooth discovered with the bones belonging to Acrocanthosaurus suggests it was preyed upon.

Name

Sonorasaurus thompsoni

Authority

Ratkevich, 1998

Meaning of generic name

"Sonora lizard" named after the place of discovery, Sonoran Desert

Meaning of specific name

Named after Richard Thompson, he discovered the specimen in 1995

Size

Body Length: 55 ft (16.7 m)?

Remains

Partial skeleton including a complete hind foot (pes), numerous vertebrae, humerus, pelvic remains, and a complete crushed skull.

Age and Distribution

Horizon: Turney Ranch Formation, Lower-Upper Cretaceous Albian-Cenomanian Locality: Chihuahua Desert, Sonoran Desert (southeast of Tucson), Arizona, U.S.A.

Classification

Dinosauria Saurischia Sauropodomorpha Sauropoda Macronaria Brachiosauridae

Further Reading

Ratkevich, R (1998). "New Cretaceous brachiosaurid dinosaur, Sonorasaurus thompsoni gen et sp. nov, from Arizona." Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science 31: 71-82.