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A fossil skull once identified as Diplodocus has been reclassified as Athenar bermani, a new genus and species of dicraeosaurid sauropod. The specimen was collected in Utah in 1913 and formally named in a 2025 study. Because it consists of a braincase and part of the skull roof, it does not establish how long or heavy the animal was.
What new dinosaur was identified from the fossil?
The species is Athenar bermani, a newly named dicraeosaurid sauropod. Its holotype—the specimen used to define the species—is Carnegie Museum of Natural History specimen CM 26552, made up of a braincase and partial skull roof.
John A. Whitlock, Juan Pablo Garderes, Pablo Gallina, and Matthew C. Lamanna described the genus and species in a 2025 peer-reviewed paper in Palaeontologia Electronica, volume 28, issue 3, article a50 (doi:10.26879/1550). The journal’s plain-language abstract describes it as a new genus and species of sauropod dinosaur based on a specimen housed at Carnegie Museum of Natural History.
Was the fossil really Diplodocus?
No. The specimen was assigned to Diplodocus in a 1978 description by Berman and McIntosh, and it helped inform their account of Diplodocus braincase anatomy. The 2025 reanalysis concluded that CM 26552 is distinct from Diplodocus and does not belong to Diplodocidae. The authors instead classify it as a dicraeosaurid and name it Athenar bermani.
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- FUN FACTS: Diplodocus means: "Double beam", and this comes from a the feature of the backbone. They were also the longest dinosaur at 88 feet long.
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The reclassification rests on anatomical details in the preserved skull, including postparietal and frontoparietal openings, a distinctive projection on the squamosal bone, braincase features, and a unique “tooth” at the suture between the parietal and opisthotic bones. These features help distinguish the specimen from the earlier identification; they do not reveal the animal’s full appearance.
Where and when was Athenar bermani found?
Earl Douglass collected CM 26552 in 1913 at Carnegie Quarry in what is now Dinosaur National Monument, Utah. The fossil comes from the uppermost Jurassic, or Tithonian, Morrison Formation. The 2025 paper places it at approximately 150–151 million years old.
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Why can an old museum fossil become a new species?
A fossil’s museum label records an identification made at a particular time; it is not beyond revision. When researchers compare a specimen with a broader range of fossils and use updated anatomical knowledge, features once interpreted as belonging to a known animal may prove to distinguish a different one.
That is what happened here: a skull fragment long treated as evidence about Diplodocus was reassessed and found to represent a dinosaur outside Diplodocidae. The discovery adds a named sauropod to the diverse Morrison Formation fauna and contributes to the record of dicraeosaurids in the Late Jurassic of North America.
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Does the new species qualify as a “giant”?
The paper establishes a new sauropod species, but it does not provide a defensible body-length or mass estimate. CM 26552 preserves only cranial material, not the bones needed to measure or reliably reconstruct the animal’s overall size. Calling it a newly identified sauropod is supported; assigning it a specific giant body size is not.
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- Camarasaurus was a vegetarian dinosaur that lived in the late Jurassic period and was one of the most famous dinosaurs in North America.
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