Fixing fossil mix-up, scientists unearth longest dinosaur that ever lived on Earth

Scientists seemto have finally fixed a fossil mix-up and analysed new bones excavated from the long-necked dinosaur Supersaurus' final resting spot.

Supersaurus, who is the longest dinosaur of the world, is a diplodocid. This long-necked sauropod has whip-like tail, which is too long.

Earlier, Supersaurus was considered as one of longest dinosaurs. But now, the research shows that "this is the longest dinosaur based on a decent skeleton." It is because other dinosaurs’ remains are fragmentary, and it's challenging to accurately estimate their lengths, Brian Curtice, a paleontologist at the Arizona Museum of Natural History, who is spearheading the research, told ‘Live Science’.

About 150 million years ago, when Supersaurus was alive during the Jurassic period, it exceeded 128 feet (39 meters) and even reached 137 feet (42 m) from snout to tail, found the new research.

The research, which is not yet published in a peer-reviewed journal, was presented online recently at the annual conference of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology.

According to a study of a specimen known as Seismosaurus in the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin in 2006, the dinosaur, even at its "shorter" size of 128 feet, is record-breaking and would have been longer than another contender, Diplodocus, which could reach lengths of 108 feet (33 m).

(With inputs from agencies)