Genus
Valid Extinct

Brachiosaurus

Riggs 1903
Etymology Reptile à bras

Brachiosaurus is a genus of sauropod dinosaur that lived in North America during the Late Jurassic, about 155.6 to 145.5 million years ago. It was first described by American paleontologist Elmer S. Riggs in 1903 from fossils found in the Colorado River valley in western Colorado, United States. Riggs named the dinosaur Brachiosaurus altithorax; the generic name is Greek for "arm lizard", in reference to its proportionately long arms, and the specific name means "deep chest". Brachiosaurus is estimated to have been between 18 and 22 meters long; body mass estimates of the subadult holotype specimen range from 28.3 to 46.9 metric tons. It had a disproportionately long neck, small skull, and large overall size, all of which are typical for sauropods. Atypically, Brachiosaurus had longer forelimbs than hindlimbs, which resulted in a steeply inclined trunk, and a proportionally shorter tail.

Temporal range
Triassic
Jurassic
Cretaceous
Paleogene
Neogene
252 201 145 66 0 Ma
PBDB occurrences
20
Group
Dinosaures
Herbivore Ground dwelling, gregarious Terrestrial
Brachiosaurus
click to enlarge
The mounted skeleton of Brachiosaurus altithorax outside the Field Museum in Chicago, based on the holotype FMNH P25107, with missing parts filled in from the mounted Giraffatitan brancai MB.R.2181 at the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin. © Matt Wedel · CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia
PBDB Wikipedia
Classification
Dinosauria Unranked clade
Saurischia Unranked clade
Sauropodomorpha Unranked clade
Massopoda Unranked clade
Sauropodiformes Unranked clade
Sauropoda Unranked clade
Gravisauria Unranked clade
Eusauropoda Unranked clade
Neosauropoda Unranked clade
Macronaria Unranked clade
Titanosauriformes Unranked clade
Brachiosauridae Family
Brachiosaurus Genus
Measurements
Length
26,5 m
Brachiosaurus altithorax
30 m
Mass
50 000 kg
Brachiosaurus altithorax
58 000 kg
Fossil sites 20 geolocated sites
Distribution
Top countries
🇺🇸 United States
16
🇹🇿 Tanzania
2
🇩🇪 Germany
1
🇿🇼 Zimbabwe
1
Geological formations
Süntel
1
Kadzi
1
Temporal distribution
Tithonian (149.2–143.1 Ma)
17
Kimmeridgian (154.8–149.2 Ma)
2
Oxfordian (161.5–154.8 Ma)
1
Species (1)
Brachiosaurus altithorax 155 Ma
Bibliography
Original description
E. S. Riggs. 1903. Brachiosaurus altithorax, the largest known dinosaur. American Journal of Science, series 4 15:299-306 DOI ↗
Bibliography (17)
C. Boisvert, G. T. Bivens, and B. Curtice, D. R. Wilhite, M. J. Wedel. 2025. Census of currently known specimens of the Late Jurassic sauropod Haplocanthosaurus from the Morrison Formation, USA. Geology of the Intermountain West 12(16867):1–23 DOI ↗
B. Curtice, M. Wedel, and D. R. Wilhite, C. Boisvert. 2023. New material of Haplocanthosaurus (Hatcher 1903) from the Dry Mesa Dinosaur Quarry and a comment on sauropod diversity. 14th Symposium on Mesozoic Terrestrial Ecosystems and Biota. The Anatomical Record 306 (S1)
J. L. Carballido, J. S. Marpmann, and D. Schwarz-Wings, B. Pabst. 2012. New information on a juvenile sauropod specimen from the Morrison Formation and the reassessment of its systematic position. Palaeontology 55(3):567-582 DOI ↗
R. T. Tucker. 2011. Taphonomy of Sheridan College Quarry 1, Buffalo, Wyoming: implications for reconstructing historic dinosaur localities including Utterback's 1902–1910 Morrison dinosaur expeditions. Geobios 44(5):527-541 DOI ↗
H. Galiano and R. Albersdörfer. 2010. A New Basal Diplodocoid Species, Amphicoelias brontodiplodocus from the Morrison Formation, Big Horn Basin, Wyoming, with Taxonomic Reevaluation of Diplodocus, Apatosaurus, Barosaurus and Other Genera. Dinosauria International (Ten Sleep, WY) Report for September 2010
J. Mathews, S. Williams, and M. Bonnan, M. Henderson. 2009. The Hanksville-Burpee Quarry: new insights into a sauropod dominated bonebed in the Morrison Formation of eastern Utah. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 29(3, suppl.):144A
K. Remes. 2007. A second Gondwanan diplodocid dinosaur from the Upper Jurassic Tendaguru Beds of Tanzania, East Africa. Palaeontology 50(3):653-667 DOI ↗
J. R. Foster. 2005. New juvenile sauropod material from western Colorado, and the record of juvenile sauropods from the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation. Thunder-Lizards: The Sauropodomorph Dinosaurs. Indiana University Press, Bloomington
J. R. Foster. 2003. Paleoecological analysis of the vertebrate fauna of the Morrison Formation (Upper Jurassic), Rocky Mountain region, U.S.A. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin 23:1-95
M. J. Wedel, M. F. Bonnan, and R. K. Sanders. 2002. Two previously unreported sauropod dinosaurs from the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of Oklahoma. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 22(3 (suppl.)):118A
R. Windolf. 2000. Dinosaur sites in the Upper Jurassic of northern Germany. 5th European Workshop on Vertebrate Palaeontology. Program. Abstracts. Excursion Guides
J. H. Ostrom and J. S. McIntosh. 1999. Marsh's Dinosaurs: The Collections from Como Bluff. Yale University Press, New Haven
C. E. Turner and F. Peterson. 1999. Biostratigraphy of dinosaurs in the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of the Western Interior, U.S.A. Vertebrate Paleontology in Utah, Utah Geological Survey Miscellaneous Publication 99-1:77-114
W. L. Chenoweth. 1987. The Riggs Hill and Dinosaur Hill sites, Mesa County, Colorado. Paleontology and Geology of the Dinosaur Triangle: Guidebook for 1987 Field Trip
J. A. Jensen. 1987. New brachiosaur material from the Late Jurassic of Utah and Colorado. Great Britain Naturalist 47(4):592-608
M. A. Raath and J. S. McIntosh. 1987. Sauropod dinosaurs from the central Zambezi Valley, Zimbabwe, and the age of the Kadzi Formation. South African Journal of Geology 90(2):107-119
E. S. Riggs. 1903. Brachiosaurus altithorax, the largest known dinosaur. American Journal of Science, series 4 15:299-306 DOI ↗