Brontosaurus excelsus
读音： BRON-toh-SORE-us ek-SEL-sus
Sauropoda · Diplodocidae
The "thunder lizard", a long-necked diplodocid from the Late Jurassic Morrison Formation of the western United States. Sunk into Apatosaurus in 1903, it was restored as a separate genus in 2015 after a specimen-by-specimen study.
- Giant
- Long necked
- Quadrupedal
- Famous specimen
- 时代
- 侏罗纪· 钦莫利阶
- 食性
- 植食性
- 体长
- 21–23 m
- 体重
- 15,000–20,000 kg
- 地点
- Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, United States
快速问答
- Brontosaurus excelsus有多大？
- Brontosaurus excelsus体长约21–23 m。髋部高约3.4–4 m。体重约15–20 t。 (Wikipedia: Brontosaurus 2026; Paul 2016)
- Brontosaurus excelsus生活在什么时候？
- Brontosaurus excelsus生活在晚侏罗世，约1.548亿至1.431亿年前。 (Paleobiology Database: Brontosaurus occurrences 2026)
- 在哪里发现过Brontosaurus excelsus的化石？
- Brontosaurus excelsus的化石发现于Morrison Formation (Colorado)和United States。 (Marsh 1879; Tschopp et al. 2015)
- Brontosaurus excelsus吃什么？
- Brontosaurus excelsus是植食性。 (Marsh 1879; Tschopp et al. 2015)
- Brontosaurus excelsus由谁命名，何时命名？
- Brontosaurus excelsus由Othniel Charles Marsh于1879年描述。 (Marsh 1879; Tschopp et al. 2015)
本页内容
BRON-toh-SORE-us ek-SEL-sus
- 时代
- 侏罗纪154.8–143.1 Ma
- 食性
- 植食性
- 体长
- 21–23 m
- 体重
- 15–20 t
- 产地
- United States
- 分类
- Sauropoda · Diplodocidae
- 命名
- 1879, Othniel Charles Marsh
概览
此内容目前仅提供英文版。
Brontosaurus excelsus lived in western North America in the Late Jurassic, in the Morrison Formation. Othniel Charles Marsh named it in 1879 from a large skeleton collected at Como Bluff, Wyoming (YPM 1980). That skeleton became the first sauropod ever shown as a complete reconstruction, and made the name famous.
In 1903 Elmer Riggs concluded that Brontosaurus was the same animal as Apatosaurus, named by Marsh two years earlier, and the older name took priority. For more than a century scientists used Apatosaurus while the public kept saying Brontosaurus.
In 2015 Emmanuel Tschopp, Octávio Mateus and Roger Benson compared hundreds of features across diplodocid specimens and found Brontosaurus distinct enough to be a genus again, with three species: B. excelsus, B. parvus and B. yahnahpin. Like its relatives it had a long neck, a massive body and a long, whip-like tail.
名称含义
From Greek brontē ("thunder") and sauros ("lizard"); excelsus, Latin for "high" or "noble" (Marsh 1879).
生物学与证据
科学家对这种动物生活方式的看法，以及每种观点的证据有多充分。
生物力学
Brontosaurus and its relatives could crack their tails like a whip at supersonic speed.
证据等级：有争议A 1997 model said the tail tip could break the sound barrier. A 2022 model including soft tissue found the tip reached only about 30 m/s and that tissues would fail at supersonic speed.
支持 / 反对证据 · 2
支持证据
生物力学模型 · Supersonic diplodocid tail model
A computer model of the Apatosaurus louisae tail reaching supersonic speed at the tip, like a bullwhip.
反对证据
生物力学模型 · Diplodocid tail multibody model
A multibody model with soft-tissue strength limits: the tail tip reaches about 30 m/s, far below the speed of sound.
其他
Brontosaurus has three species: B. excelsus, B. parvus and B. yahnahpin.
证据等级：中等证据Tschopp et al. referred Elosaurus parvus and Eobrontosaurus yahnahpin to Brontosaurus alongside the type species.
支持 / 反对证据 · 1
支持证据
系统发育推断 · Specimen-level phylogeny of Diplodocidae
A phylogenetic analysis scoring 81 diplodocid specimens separately, with a numerical criterion for genus and species boundaries; it recovers Brontosaurus as distinct from Apatosaurus.
标本： YPM 1980
Brontosaurus is a genus distinct from Apatosaurus.
证据等级：中等证据A specimen-by-specimen analysis found enough differences to separate them again in 2015. Most researchers now use Brontosaurus, but the line between genera is partly a matter of convention.
支持 / 反对证据 · 1
支持证据
系统发育推断 · Specimen-level phylogeny of Diplodocidae
A phylogenetic analysis scoring 81 diplodocid specimens separately, with a numerical criterion for genus and species boundaries; it recovers Brontosaurus as distinct from Apatosaurus.
标本： YPM 1980
体型
- 体长
- 21–23 m
- 身高
- 3.7 m文献范围 3.4–4 m
- 体重
- 15,000–20,000 kg
（75.5 英尺）
依据 YPM 1980
（12.1 英尺）
依据 YPM 1980 (holotype, femur c. 1.83 m)
时间线
时代： 钦莫利阶 (154.8–149.2 Ma), 提塘阶 (149.2–145 Ma), 晚侏罗世 (161.5–145 Ma)
First and last appearance bounds of B. excelsus in PBDB (Kimmeridgian-Tithonian, PBDB time scale). The holotype comes from the Brushy Basin Member of the Morrison Formation.
产地
地层
- Morrison Formation · Colorado
- Reed's Quarry 10, Como Bluff, Albany County, Wyoming · Morrison Formation · Wyoming · 位置为近似值
这些是发现化石的地点，而不是该动物生活的全部范围。
生态系统
生活于： Morrison
156–147 百万年前 · 泛滥平原, 河流水系, 疏林, 湖泊
A vast, seasonally dry floodplain crossed by rivers in the western interior of North America in the Late Jurassic, with a wet and a dry season, conifer and fern vegetation along the water and giant sauropods in abundance.
分类
- 演化支Dinosauria
- 演化支Saurischia
- 演化支Sauropodomorpha
- 演化支Sauropoda
- 总科Diplodocoidea
- 科Diplodocidae
- 亚科Apatosaurinae
- 属Brontosaurus
- 种Brontosaurus excelsus
分类地位： 有效
化石记录
| 编号 | 类型 | 收藏机构 | 发现年份 |
|---|---|---|---|
| YPM 1980 | 正模标本 | Yale Peabody Museum (YPM) | 1879 |
尚未记录每件标本保存了哪些骨骼。
图库
发现
- 命名年份
- 1879
- 命名者
- Othniel Charles Marsh
- 模式标本
- YPM 1980
发现时间线
1879 · 正式命名
Marsh names Brontosaurus excelsus
Marsh names the "thunder lizard" from a skeleton dug at Como Bluff, Wyoming.
人物：Othniel Charles Marsh
1903 · 修订
Riggs sinks Brontosaurus into Apatosaurus
Elmer Riggs concludes that Brontosaurus and Apatosaurus are the same genus; the older name Apatosaurus takes priority.
人物：Elmer S. Riggs
2015 · 修订
Brontosaurus restored as a separate genus
Tschopp, Mateus and Benson revalidate Brontosaurus with three species.
人物：Emmanuel Tschopp
参考文献
- (2026). Paleobiology Database: Brontosaurus occurrences. The Paleobiology Database (paleobiodb.org), data service 1.2, accessed 2026-09-23. https://paleobiodb.org/data1.2/occs/list.txt?base_name=Brontosaurus&show=coords,paleoloc,strat,loc,ref&pgm=gplates（在新标签页中打开）
- (2026). Wikipedia: Brontosaurus. Wikipedia (English), accessed 2026-09-23. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brontosaurus（在新标签页中打开）
- Conti, S., Tschopp, E., Mateus, O., Zanoni, A., Masarati, P. & Sala, G. (2022). Multibody analysis and soft tissue strength refute supersonic dinosaur tail. Scientific Reports 12. doi:10.1038/s41598-022-21633-2（在新标签页中打开）
- Marsh, O. C. (1879). Notice of new Jurassic reptiles. American Journal of Science, series 3, 18: 501-505.
- Myhrvold, N. P. & Currie, P. J. (1997). Supersonic sauropods? Tail dynamics in the diplodocids. Paleobiology 23: 393-409. doi:10.1017/s0094837300019801（在新标签页中打开）
- Paul, G. S. (2016). The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs (2nd edition). Princeton University Press.
- Tschopp, E., Mateus, O. & Benson, R. B. J. (2015). A specimen-level phylogenetic analysis and taxonomic revision of Diplodocidae (Dinosauria, Sauropoda). PeerJ 3: e857. doi:10.7717/peerj.857（在新标签页中打开）