Editing Supersaurus (section)

==Discovery==
[[File:James A. Jensen.jpg|left|thumb|[[James A. Jensen]] with the reconstructed front leg of ''Ultrasauros'']] 
''Supersaurus'' is present in stratigraphic zone 5 of the Morrison, dating from the [[Tithonian]].<ref name="foster-appendix">{{cite book|last=Foster|first=J.|year=2007|chapter=Appendix|title=Jurassic West: The Dinosaurs of the Morrison Formation and Their World|publisher=Indiana University Press|pages=327–329}}</ref> The original [[fossil]] remains of ''Supersaurus'' were discovered in the [[Dry Mesa Quarry]] in 1972. This find yielded only a few bones: mainly the shoulder girdle, an [[ischium]], and tail vertebrae. Paleontologist [[James A. Jensen]] described ''Supersaurus''; he designated a [[scapula|scapulocoracoid]] [[BYU]] 9025 (originally labeled as BYU 5500) as the [[holotype|type specimen]]. This shoulder girdle stood some {{Convert|2.4|m|ft|sp=us}} tall, if placed on end. The specimen was given the name "Supersaurus" informally as early as 1973,<ref>{{cite news|last=George|first=J.|title=Supersaurus, giant of the giants|work=Denver Post, Empire Magazine|date=May 13, 1973|pages=14ff}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=George |first=J. |date=June 1973 |title=Supersaurus, the biggest brute ever |work=[[Reader's Digest]] |pages=51–56}}</ref> but was not officially described and named until more than a decade later, in 1985.<ref name="jensen1985" /> Sauropod researcher Jack McIntosh at one time thought that the BYU ''Supersaurus'' material might represent a large species of ''[[Barosaurus]]'' but later felt that there was evidence for ''Supersaurus'' being a valid genus.<ref name="mcintosh2005">{{cite book |last=McIntosh |first=John S. |title=Thunder-lizards: The Sauropod Dinosaurs |publisher=Indiana University Press |year=2005 |isbn=0-253-34542-1 |editor1-last=Tidwell |editor1-first=Virginia |editor2-last=Carpenter |editor2-first=Ken |editor2-link=Kenneth Carpenter |location=Bloomington |pages=38–77 |chapter=The genus ''Barosaurus'' Marsh (Sauropoda, Diplodocidae) }}</ref>

A much more complete specimen WDC DMJ-021, was found in [[Converse County]], [[Wyoming]] in 1986 by Brandon Flyr and Bart Lesco while out hiking and was reported to the people who owned the land at the time. The discovery was later named "Jimbo" in 1996 by the family that purchased the land, it was described and assigned to ''Supersaurus'' in 2007. The specimen represented approximately 30% of the skeleton. Its bones are being held at the [[Wyoming Dinosaur Center]]. A comparison of WDC DMJ-021 and other specimens previously assigned to ''Supersaurus'' was done in order to help decide what material from the Dry Mesa Quarry belonged to the genus. It indicated that a series of tail vertebrae and an ulna may have belonged to some other diplodocid.<ref name=LHW07/>

===Ultrasauros===
[[File:Supersaurus vivianae dorsal vertebra.JPG|thumb|left|upright|Dorsal vertebra BYU 9044, the holotype of ''Ultrasauros'', now assigned to ''Supersaurus'' [[Museum of Ancient Life]]]]
Jensen, who described the original ''Supersaurus'' specimen, simultaneously reported the discovery of another gigantic sauropod, which would later be named "Ultrasaurus" ''macintoshi''<ref name="jensen1985">{{Cite journal |last=Jensen |first=J.A. |author-link=James A. Jensen |year=1985 |title=Three new sauropod dinosaurs from the Upper Jurassic of Colorado |journal=The Great Basin Naturalist |volume=45 |issue=4 |pages=697–709 |doi=10.5962/bhl.part.4439 |doi-access=free}}</ref> (later renamed ''Ultrasauros macintoshi''). The type specimen (the specimen used to define a new [[species]]) of ''Ultrasauros'', being a backbone (dorsal [[vertebra]], labeled BYU 9044), was later found to have come from ''Supersaurus''. In fact, it probably belonged to the original ''Supersaurus'' specimen, which was discovered in the same quarry in 1972. Therefore, ''Ultrasauros'' became a [[junior synonym]] of ''Supersaurus'', which had been named first and thus retains priority, and the name ''Ultrasauros'' was abandoned.<ref name="curticeetal1996">{{Cite book |last1=Curtice |first1=Brian D. |url=http://www.miketaylor.org.uk/tmp/CurticeEtAl1996-ultrasauros.pdf |title=The Continental Jurassic: Transactions of the Continental Jurassic Symposium |last2=Stadtman |first2=Kenneth L. |last3=Curtice |first3=Linda J. |publisher=Museum of Northern Arizona Bulletin |year=1996 |editor-last=Morales |editor-first=M. |volume=60 |pages=87–95 |chapter=A re-assessment of ''Ultrasauros macintoshi'' (Jensen, 1985)}}</ref>

Other bones that were found at the same location and originally thought to belong to ''Ultrasauros'', like a shoulder girdle ([[scapula|scapulocoracoid]], BYU 9462), actually belonged to ''[[Brachiosaurus]]'', possibly a large specimen of ''Brachiosaurus altithorax''.<ref name="curticeetal1996"/> The ''Brachiosaurus'' bones indicate a large, but not record-breaking individual, a little larger than the "''Brachiosaurus" brancai'' (''[[Giraffatitan]] brancai'') mount in the [[Natural History Museum, Berlin|Berlin's Natural History Museum]].<ref name="Paul1988">{{cite journal |last=Paul |first=G.S. |author-link=Gregory S. Paul |year=1988 |title=The brachiosaur giants of the Morrison and Tendaguru with a description of a new subgenus, ''Giraffatitan'', and a comparison of the world's largest dinosaurs |url=http://gspauldino.com/HunteriaBrachio.pdf |journal=Hunteria |volume=2 |issue=3 |pages=1–14}}</ref>

Originally, these ''Supersaurus'' and ''Brachiosaurus'' bones were believed to represent a single dinosaur that was estimated to reach about {{convert|25|to|30|m|sp=us}} long, {{Convert|8|m|sp=us}} high at the shoulder, {{Convert|15|m|sp=us}} in total height, and weighing maybe {{cvt|70|MT|ST}}. At the time, mass estimates ranged up to 180&nbsp;tons,<ref>{{cite book|last=McGowan|first=C.|year=1992|title=Dinosaurs, Spitfires and Sea Dragons|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0674207707}}</ref> which placed it in the same category as the [[blue whale]] and the equally problematic ''[[Bruhathkayosaurus]]''.

The naming of the [[Chimera (paleontology)|chimeric]] ''Ultrasauros'' has a similarly complicated history. ''Ultrasaurus'' (with the final "u") was the original choice, and was widely used by the media after the discovery in 1979. However, the name of a new [[species]] must be published with a description to become official.<ref name=SVPOW/>
[[File:Dystylosaurus BYU 4503.jpg|thumb|Holotype vertebrae of ''Dystylosaurus'', junior synonym of ''Supersaurus'']]
Before Jim Jensen published his discovery in 1985, another paleontologist, Kim Haang Mook, used the name ''[[Ultrasaurus]]'' in a 1983 publication to describe what he believed was a giant dinosaur in [[South Korea]]. This was a different, much smaller dinosaur than Jensen's find, but Kim thought it represented a similarly gigantic animal because he confused a [[humerus]] for an [[ulna]]. While the logic of naming was incorrect, the ''Ultrasaurus'' from Kim's find fulfilled the requirements for naming and became regarded as a legitimate, if dubious genus.<ref name=Paul1988/><ref name=SVPOW/> Thus, because Jensen did not publish his own "Ultrasaurus" find until 1985, Kim's use retained its official priority of name, and Jensen was forced to choose a new name (in technical terms, his original choice was "preoccupied" by Kim's sauropod). In 1991, at his suggestion, George Olshevsky changed one letter, and renamed Jensen's sauropod ''Ultrasauros'', with the final "o".<ref name=SVPOW>{{cite web|date=June 13, 2019|title=Supersaurus, Ultrasaurus and Dystylosaurus in 2019, part 1: what we know now|website=Sauropod Vertebra Picture of the Week|url=https://svpow.com/2019/06/13/supersaurus-ultrasaurus-and-dystylosaurus-in-2019-part-1-what-we-know-now/}}</ref>

When it was later discovered that the new name referred to bones from two separate, and already known species, the name ''Ultrasauros'' was considered invalid and became a junior synonym for ''Supersaurus''. Since the holotype of the ''Ultrasaurus'' was a dorsal vertebrae of the ''Supersaurus'', so  ''Ultrasauros'' is not a junior synonym for ''Brachiosaurus''. The name ''Supersaurus'' was kept instead of ''Ultrasaurus'' as the animal is a diplodocid and ''Ultrasaurus'' had always referred to a brachiosaurid.<ref name="curticeetal1996"/>

===Additional synonyms===
Another [[diplodocid]] dinosaur found near the original ''Supersaurus'' quarry, known from a backbone (dorsal [[vertebra]] type specimen BYU 5750), was named '''''Dystylosaurus edwini''''' and is now also considered to be a specimen of ''Supersaurus vivianae''. Hence, ''Dystylosaurus'' has also become a junior synonym of ''Supersaurus''.<ref name=CS01>{{cite book |last=Curtice |first=B. |author2=Stadtman, K.  |year=2001 |chapter=The demise of ''Dystylosaurus edwini'' and a revision of ''Supersaurus vivianae'' |title=Western Association of Vertebrate Paleontologists and Southwest Paleontological Symposium - Proceedings 2001 |editor=McCord, R.D. |editor2=Boaz, D. |series=Mesa Southwest Museum Bulletin |volume=8 |pages=33–40}}</ref>