Sauropod — Camarasaurus lentus

Geologic period: Late Jurassic — Tithonian

Age: Late Jurassic.

Feeding: Herbivorous.

Locomotion: Terrestrial quadruped.

Body plan: Large quadrupedal sauropod with a long neck, relatively shorter tail than diplodocids and a robust skull.

Evidence: Complete skulls and teeth are direct fossil evidence. Specific plant preferences are reconstructed rather than observed.

Why it matters: The skull provides a direct comparison with Diplodocus. Two huge sauropods could occupy the same broad ecosystem while using very different skull and tooth designs.

Plain Language Identity: A Late Jurassic sauropod with a comparatively robust skull and large spoon-shaped teeth.

What You Are Looking At: Camarasaurus skull material preserving the jaws and teeth of a large herbivorous sauropod.

Ecosystem: Late Jurassic Morrison Formation.

Formation: Morrison Formation.

Find Location: Utah, United States for documented Smithsonian skull material.

Preservation: Original fossil skull material.

Open Questions: Do not convert tooth shape into an exact list of plant species eaten without direct evidence.

Source Urls: https://naturalhistory.si.edu/visit/virtual-tour/current-exhibits/deep-time-virtual-tour-fossil-list; https://www.si.edu/object/camarasaurus-lentus-marsh-1889:nmnhpaleobiology_3449104; https://www.si.edu/object/camarasaurus-lentus-marsh-1889:nmnhpaleobiology_3449141

Enrichment Method: SAGE curated research pass; title + scientific name + source scene matched; historic taxonomy retained where relevant; evidence separated from inference

Scientific name: Camarasaurus lentus

Evidence / representation: comparative_taxon_visual

comparative_taxon_visual

Jurassic Giants: Size, Teeth, Armor and Survival.

Media license: CC BY 2.5

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5