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Dinosaurs » A-Z Dinosaurs List » Amphicoelias Dinosaur |
| Amphicoelias Dinosaur |
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Amphicoelias fragillimus (pronounced AM-fi-koil-i-as fra-GIL-i-mus, and meaning "very fragile double cavities") may be the major dinosaur ever discovered. If it truly existed, it would be the longest vertebrate by a substantial margin, and it would have a mass that rivals the heaviest animal known, the blue whale. However, because the only fossil evidence for its existence is lost, proof survives only in drawings, and doubt has been expressed about their veracity. |
The Bone Wars |
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The validity of the discover is complicated by its discovery in the midst of the Bone Wars, an infamous period in the history of paleontology, when the two pre-eminent paleontologists of the time, Othniel Charles Marsh and Edward Drinker Cope, were rival to see who could find the most, and most sensational, new species. This competition was marred by bribery, accusations of robbery, spying, politics, and strong personal attacks. |
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Marsh was charming the bone war. He discovered a total of 86 new species during their decades-long rivalry, due in part to his detection of the Como Bluff site, near Medicine Bow, Wyoming, one of the richest sources of fossils ever uncovered. Cope only discovered 56; many of the fossils he unearthed were of species that had already been named, or were of unsure origin, so he was not credited with their discovery. As a result, Marsh's name is attached to many of the most famous dinosaurs, such as Triceratops, Allosaurus,Diplodocus, and Stegosaurus, while even Cope's most well-known discoveries, such as Dimetrodon (not actually a dinosaur), Camarasaurus, Coelophysis, and Monoclonius are more difficult to understand. So while there is no evidence of fabrication, the circumstances surrounding Amphicoelias do raise some doubt about the authenticity of the find. |
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The crumbling giant |
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A length of 56–62 m (185–200 ft.), and a weight of 125–170
t (140–185 tons) |
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While A. fragillimus was relatively thin, its huge size still makes it very massive. The heaviest blue whale on record weighed about 175 t (195 tons), which is just slightly larger than the higher range of estimates for Amphicoelias. For the sake of comparison, the heaviest dinosaur that we have good proof for, the Argentinosaurus, only weighed 80–100 t (90–100 tons), although if the size estimates can be validated, it would still be lighter than Bruhathkayosaurus, which is predictable to weight 175–220 t (190–240 tons) (based on a poor description of a partial fossil). |
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The Classification of Amphicoelias Dinosaurs |
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The genus Amphicoelias Dinosaurs is badly known. The first named species in the type, A. latus (holotype specimen AMHD 5764), was discovered by Cope the year prior to, in 1877. But while a partial skeleton only represents it, there are enough diagnostic characteristics to provisionally define the genus. |


