What is Ardetosaurus viator?

About Ardetosaurus viator:

• It is a newly discovered species of dinosaur that roamed Earth during the Late Jurassic epoch, some 150 million years ago.
• It was a type of diplodocid, a family of sauropod dinosaurs that includes some of the longest creatures ever to walk the planet.
• What are Sauropods?
  • Sauropods were the largest of all dinosaurs and the largest land animals that ever lived.
  • They existed for a minimum of 135 million years, from the beginning of the Jurassic 201 million years ago to the end of the Cretaceous, 66 million years.
  • Sauropod remains have been found on every continent, except Antarctica.
  • They are best recognized by their long necks and long tails, and their success can be attributed to their extreme size, an intricate bird-like air sac system, as well as their unique feeding and digestive strategies and oviparous reproduction.
  • One of the most recognizable sauropod families is Diplodocidae.
• These sauropods are generally characterized by their extremely long necks and even longer tails.
• Diplodocids are known from North and South America, Europe, and Africa.

Q1: What is the Cretaceous epoch?

The Cretaceous is a geological period that began 145 million years ago and ended 66 million years ago. It is the last period in the Mesozoic Era. It comes after the Jurassic Period and before the Paleogene – the first period of the Cenozoic Era, our current era. It lasted a long time, nearly 80 million years, making it the longest geological period of the Phanerozoic Eon, which began some 539 million years ago. 

Source: New Sauropod Dinosaur Discovered in Wyoming: Ardetosaurus viator

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