Third (largest) specimen of Supersaurus vivanae

[Vladimír Socha]

Good day! 

I was surprised that there is allegedly the third known specimen of giant diplodocoid sauropod Supersaurus vivanae. According to Wikipedia: Supersaurus is among the largest dinosaurs... with the WDC specimen reaching 33–36 meters (108–118 ft) in length, the BYU specimen reaching perhaps 39 meters (128 ft) and a third specimen potentially exceeding 40 meters (130 ft) in size. 

I thought that the 40+ meter giant is still the second specimen described in 2008. What else is known about this third speciment and its actual size? Thank you in advance, VS.

References:

Jensen, J. A. (1985). Three new sauropod dinosaurs from the Upper Jurassic of Colorado. The Great Basin Naturalist. 45 (4): 697–709.

Lovelace, D. M.; Hartman, S. A.; Wahl, W. R. (2008). Morphology of a specimen of Supersaurus (Dinosauria, Sauropoda) from the Morrison Formation of Wyoming, and a re-evaluation of diplodocid phylogeny. Arquivos do Museu Nacional. 65 (4): 527–544.

Curtice, B. (2021). New Dry Mesa Dinosaur Quarry Supersaurus vivianae (Jensen 1985) axial elements provide additional insight into its phylogenetic relationships and size, suggesting an animal that exceeded 39 meters in length (PDF). p. 92.

Woodruff, D. C.; Curtice, B. D.; Foster, J. R. (2024). Seis-ing up the Super-Morrison formation sauropods. Journal of Anatomy.

[Mike Taylor]

I've never heard of this.

-- Mike.

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[Vladimír Socha]

Well, I mean - if Michael P. Taylor never heard of this sauropod, can we even be sure it is a legitimate fossil specimen?

[John D'Angelo]

The third specimen is an undescribed specimen

nicknamed “Goliath” that I believe is currently under study by Brian Curtice. I don’t think there’s any reason to believe the third specimen is any larger than the holotype individual; Curtice estimated the holotype individual as exceeding 40 meters in a 2022 SVP abstract and I suspect that that’s where that number came from; I’m not aware of any estimates of the third specimen’s size.

On Fri, Aug 29, 2025 at 8:10 AM Vladimír Socha <vladimir....@gmail.com> wrote:

Well, I mean - if Michael P. Taylor never heard of this sauropod, can we even be sure it is a legitimate fossil specimen?

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[Gunnar Bivens]

I have seen some of the specimen in person, & gotten measurements & images of the rest, & my scaling efforts for our work find it intermediate in size between Jimbo & BYU (of which BYU is the largest). More importantly than the size is the preservation, having overlapping material with both individuals that confirms assignment of much of the Dry Mesa material to Supes.

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