Dinosaur genus
Sauropus
Sauropus is a dinosaur genus known from bones, found in rocks 227.3–192.9 million years old, in the United States.
Confidence labels are switched off. Facts with low confidence, or where sources disagree, still carry a small dot: tap it for the reason.
At a glance
Data as of 11 October 2026- Named by
- Hitchcock 1845
medium
medium: Only PBDB gives this; nothing contradicts it.Sources
Given by: Paleobiology Database. How it was chosen: PBDB leads.
- Described in
- E. Hitchcock (1845). An attempt to name, classify, and describe, the animals that made the fossil footmarks of New England. Sixth Annual Meeeting of the Association of American Geologists and Naturalists, New Haven, CT. Abstract and Proceedings: 23–25.
medium
medium: Only PBDB gives this; its author and year match the naming authority (Hitchcock 1845).Sources
Given by: Paleobiology Database. The publication the Paleobiology Database gives as the authority for this genus name, usually the one that first named and described it.
- Lived
- Norian, 227.3–205.7 million years ago
medium
medium: Only PBDB gives this; nothing contradicts it.Omnisaura calculation227.3–192.9 million years ago, from its dated fossil recordsmedium
medium: Omnisaura's calculation from 8 confirmed PBDB records.Sources
Given by: Paleobiology Database. How it was chosen: PBDB leads.
- Fossils found in
- United States
medium
medium: Only PBDB records it (8 records).Sources
Given by: Paleobiology Database. How it was chosen: Union of all sources (ISO 3166).
- Rock formations
- Portland FormationPassaic
medium
medium: Only PBDB records it (6 records).Turners Fallslow
low: Only one PBDB record.low
low: Only one PBDB record.mixed
mixed: Levels differ between entries; each has its own.Sources
Given by: Paleobiology Database. How it was chosen: Canonical names, automatic and editor-approved matches applied.
- Family
- Sauropodidae
medium
medium: Only PBDB gives this; nothing contradicts it.Sources
Given by: Paleobiology Database. How it was chosen: PBDB leads.
- Parent group
- Sauropodidae
medium
medium: Only PBDB gives this; nothing contradicts it.Sources
Given by: Paleobiology Database. How it was chosen: PBDB leads.
- Older or other names
- Aethyopus (a junior synonym); Chimaera (a junior synonym); Chimaerichnus (a junior synonym)
Sources
Given by: Paleobiology Database (names it treats as this genus).
- Diet
- carnivore (inferred for its group)
medium
medium: Only PBDB gives this, and it infers it for the whole of Theropoda, the group this genus belongs to, not from this genus's own fossils.Sources
Given by: Paleobiology Database. How it was chosen: PBDB, inferred from a group the genus belongs to.
- Way of life
- ground dwelling, solitary (inferred for its group)
low
low: PBDB infers this way of life for the whole of Theropoda; behaviour is rarely known for one genus.Sources
Given by: Paleobiology Database. How it was chosen: PBDB, inferred from a group the genus belongs to.
- Known from
- Bones
Sources
Given by: Paleobiology Database (what the name was based on).
Gaps are answers
What isn't known yet
- Type species: no source we use gives it yet.
- Order: no source we use gives it yet.
- Common names: no source we use gives it yet.
- What it was named after: no source we use gives it yet.
- Held back: 3 fossil records left out: identified as a related genus rather than this one.
- Resting on one source: 6 facts come from a single source with nothing against them (rated medium): name (PBDB); authority (PBDB); parent group (PBDB); family (PBDB); age (headline) (PBDB); diet (PBDB).
Size and appearance aren't covered yet, and diet and way of life only as PBDB infers them for the wider group. Omnisaura leaves the rest out rather than guess.
Where sources disagree
None open. Where our sources overlap, they agree on everything shown here.
Did it meet…?
No. Sauropus had gone at least 109.3 million years before Tyrannosaurus appears in the fossil record, a longer gap than the 66 million years between Tyrannosaurus and today.
Going by the ages and rock formations of their dated fossils, as on the map. Compare their fossil sites on the map.
Connections
Genera linked to Sauropus by where and when their fossils were found, by classification and by who named them. Select a name to open its page.
Same rocks, same time 18
Genera found in the same rock units, from rocks of overlapping age, the most shared fossil sites first.
Named by Hitchcock 13
Genera whose naming authority includes the same surname. The authority has no initials, so different people who share a surname can appear together.
Found in United States 36
Other genera found in United States, from rocks of overlapping age, the most fossil sites there first.
Credits
Where this page comes from
- Paleobiology DatabaseCC BY 4.0 · fossil records, ages, classification
- Natural History Museum Data PortalCC0 1.0 · catalogued specimens
- OmnisauraOmnisaura editorial · confidence levels and gaps
- PaleoMAP PaleoCoastlines (Kocsis and Scotese 2021)CC BY 4.0 · ancient coastlines on the small map
- Natural EarthPublic domain · today's coastlines