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Wamweracaudia

Q: What did Wamweracaudia eat?

Wamweracaudia was a herbivore, meaning it ate plants. As a sauropod, it was a large quadrupedal herbivore.

Q: When did Wamweracaudia live?

Wamweracaudia lived during the Late Jurassic, about 155 to 145 million years ago.

Q: How big was Wamweracaudia?

Scientists don't know exactly, but it was a large sauropod. It is known from a nearly complete series of thirty tail vertebrae, which suggests a long tail.

Q: Is Wamweracaudia related to Mamenchisaurus?

Yes, Wamweracaudia is a close relative of Mamenchisaurus. Scientists think it may be the first mamenchisaurid found outside Asia.

Say it: WAM-wer-ah-KAW-dee-ah

Name means: “Wamwera tail”1

Ate: PlantsLong-necksLate Jurassic to Early Cretaceous

Wamweracaudia was a huge, long-necked plant-eating dinosaur that lived in what is now Africa. It walked on four legs and had a very long tail made of many bones.1 3

Lived

149 to 143 million years ago3

Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Tendaguru Formation, Tanzania, Africa1 3

Food

Plants3 1

Length

10 to 100 m2

PBDB lists adult length as 10 to <100 m, which is a broad estimate; actual size is uncertain.

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

as long as 22 cars parked in a rowas long as 560 bananas end to end

How big was Wamweracaudia compared to YOU?

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cool stuff

Fun facts

Wamweracaudia is known from a nearly complete series of thirty tail vertebrae, plus two chevrons and two neural spines.1

Its tail bones were procoelous, meaning they had a hollow at the front and a ball at the back, which made the tail flexible and strong.1

It was a close relative of Mamenchisaurus, a famous long-necked dinosaur from Asia, and scientists think it may be the first mamenchisaurid found outside Asia.1

The fossils were first dug up between 1909 and 1912 by German expeditions, but they were not given their own name until 2019.1

The name honors the Wamwera people who live near the find site, and the specific name keranjei honors Mohammadi Keranje, the foreman who led the excavation team.1

Wamweracaudia lived during the Late Jurassic, about 155 to 145 million years ago.1

AI-made picture of Wamweracaudia — An AI-made picture of how Wamweracaudia might have looked, made by a computer from what scientists know. It is a guess: the real animal may have looked different, and nobody knows its true colours.

you asked

Most asked questions about Wamweracaudia

?What did Wamweracaudia eat?

Wamweracaudia was a herbivore, meaning it ate plants. As a sauropod, it was a large quadrupedal herbivore.1

?When did Wamweracaudia live?

Wamweracaudia lived during the Late Jurassic, about 155 to 145 million years ago.1

?How big was Wamweracaudia?

Scientists don't know exactly, but it was a large sauropod. It is known from a nearly complete series of thirty tail vertebrae, which suggests a long tail.1

?Is Wamweracaudia related to Mamenchisaurus?

Yes, Wamweracaudia is a close relative of Mamenchisaurus. Scientists think it may be the first mamenchisaurid found outside Asia.1

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Myth buster

Myth: Some people think Wamweracaudia was a titanosaur, a type of giant sauropod.

Truth: Scientists now think it was a mamenchisaurid, more closely related to Mamenchisaurus, because of its tail bone features.1

For dino experts

Scientific name: Wamweracaudia
Named by: Mannion et al. 20193
Group: Long-necks
Family / clade: Mamenchisauridae3
Classification: Sauropodomorpha > Sauropoda3
Age of the rocks: 149 to 143 million years (Tithonian)3
Rock formations: Tendaguru3
Countries: Tanzania3
Fossil records: 2 in the Paleobiology Database3
Discovery: The tail was found during German expeditions to Tendaguru in Tanzania between 1909 and 1912, supervised by paleontologist Werner Janensch. It was named Wamweracaudia keranjei in 2019 by Philip Mannion and colleagues.1
Still debated: Scientists are still unsure about the exact size of Wamweracaudia because only tail bones have been found, and the PBDB gives a very broad length estimate.2

Where the facts come from

Wamweracaudia (en.wikipedia.org)
PBDB Taxon (paleobiodb.org)
Wamweracaudia 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.

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