Named By: | Virginia Tidwell, Kenneth Carpenter & Suzanne Meyer in 2001 |
Time Period: | Early Cretaceous, 112 Ma |
Location: | USA, Utah, Cedar Mountain Formation, Poison Strip Member |
Size: | Up to 10 meters long |
Diet: | Herbivore |
Fossil(s): | Incomplete post cranial skeletons of an adult and juvenile |
Classification: | | Chordata | Reptilia | Dinosauria | Saurischia | Sauropodomorpha | Sauropoda | Titanosauriformes | Brachiosauridae | |
Venenosaurus ( ve-NEN-o-SAWR-as; Latin venenum meaning "poison" and Greek sauros meaning "lizard") was a sauropod dinosaur, named after the Poison Strip Member of the Cedar Mountain Formation in Utah, United States, where the fossils were discovered by a Denver Museum of Natural History volunteer Tony DiCroce in 1998. Venenosaurus dicrocei was first described as a new species in 2001 by Virginia Tidwell, Kenneth Carpenter, and Suzanne Meyer. Venenosaurus is a relatively small (probably around 10 m (33 ft) long) titanosauriform sauropod, known from an incomplete skeleton of an adult and a juvenile. The holotype is DMNH 40932 Denver Museum of Natural History. The specimen consisted of tail vertebrae, the left scapula, right radius, left ulna, metacarpals, forefoot phalanges, right pubis, left and right ischia, metatarsals, chevrons, and ribs.