Dino card No. 1204 of 2,015

Morosaurus

Say it: MOR-oh-SORE-us

Name means: “stupid lizard”1

Ate: PlantsLong-necksLate Jurassic to Early Cretaceous

Morosaurus was a huge, long-necked plant-eater that lived in what is now Portugal. It had a very small brain for its giant body, which is why its name means 'stupid lizard'. Scientists now think Morosaurus is actually the same as another dinosaur called Camarasaurus.1 2

Lived

162 to 143 million years ago3

Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Portugal3 2

Food

Plants2 1

Length

10 to 15 m1

estimate based on related Camarasaurus

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

Morosaurus was named by the famous fossil hunter Othniel Charles Marsh in 1878. He thought it was very sluggish because its brain was tiny compared to its body.1

The name Morosaurus comes from Greek words meaning 'stupid lizard'. Marsh wrote that its brain was 'proportionately smaller than in any known vertebrate'.1

Morosaurus is now considered a synonym of Camarasaurus, which means the two names refer to the same group of dinosaurs. Camarasaurus was named just one year earlier, so that name is used instead.1 3

Fossils of Morosaurus have been found in Portugal, in rocks that are about 152 to 149 million years old. That was during the Late Jurassic period.2

Like other sauropods, Morosaurus had a long neck and tail, a bulky body, and walked on four pillar-like legs. It probably lived in herds.2

For dino experts

Scientific name: Morosaurus
Named by: Marsh 18783
Group: Long-necks
Family / clade: Camarasauridae3
Classification: Sauropodomorpha > Sauropoda > Macronaria3
Age of the rocks: 162 to 143 million years (Oxfordian to Tithonian)3
Rock formations: Alcobaça3
Countries: Portugal3
Fossil records: 138 in the Paleobiology Database3
Discovery: Morosaurus was named by Othniel Charles Marsh in 1878 based on fossils from the Morrison Formation in the United States. Later, scientists realized it was the same as Camarasaurus, which had been named by Edward Drinker Cope in 1877.1 3
Still debated: Scientists are not sure if Morosaurus marchei from Portugal is truly a separate species or just a Camarasaurus. The fossils are very incomplete, only a tooth and a tail bone.1 2

Where the facts come from

Camarasaurus (en.wikipedia.org)
PBDB Taxon (paleobiodb.org)
Morosaurus in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

Every fact on this page has a number that points to its source. If we got something wrong, sorry, we are dino fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.