NAME

Meaning - Ultrasauros means “ultra lizard”
Pronounced - ul-tra-SAWR-os
Named By - Jensen/Olshevsky
When Named - 1991
Status - Ultrasauros is a dubious genus; its fossils are probably the remains of two different genera of huge plant-eating dinosaurs (Brachiosaurus and Supersaurus).
DIET

Herbivore (plant-eater). Ultrasauros probably ate the tops of tall trees with its large spatulate (chisel-shaped) teeth. It swallowed its food whole, without chewing it, digesting the plant material in its gut.
SIZE

Length - 82-100 feet long (25-30 m) long
Height - 50+ feet (16+ m) tall at the hips
Weight - 55 to 130 tons
WHEN IT LIVED

Late Jurassic period
WHERE IT LIVED

Fossils have been found in Colorado, USA, North America.
FOSSILS

Just a few bones of “Ultrasauros” were found in the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation in western Colorado, USA, in 1979, by US paleontologist James A. Jensen. A shoulder blade (scapula), some vertebrae, and a partial hip have been found. These fossils are probably bits of a huge Brachiosaurus (the enormous shoulder bone) and a Supersaurus (the vertebrae).
CLASSIFICATION
  • Kingdom Animalia (animals)
  • Phylum Chordata (having a hollow nerve chord ending in a brain)
  • Class Archosauria (diapsids with socket-set teeth, etc.)
  • Order Saurischia - lizard-hipped dinosaurs
  • Suborder Sauropoda - large herbivores
  • Family Brachiosauridae - giraffe-stanced sauropods (with arms longer than legs)
  • Genus Ultrasauros
  • Species U. machintoshi (type species named by Jensen/Olshevsky, 1991)
INTERESTING FACTS

Ultrasauros is a dubious genus of dinosaur. Its fossils are probably the remains of two different genera of huge plant-eating dinosaurs (Brachiosaurus and Supersaurus).
LINKS

A detailed page on Ultrasauros.
Ultrasauros Printout
K-3 Ultrasauros Printout