List of largest known sauropods

[Vladimír Socha]

Good day!

Since this "list" is no longer on Wikipedia, I wonder what are currently the largest sauropod dinosaurs known so far, based on their published mass estimates. I took the liberty to create a short overview of some 18 very large sauropod dinosaurs with reliable weight estimates available. Only valid taxa are included (so no Maraapunisaurus, Bruhathkayosaurus, "Broome footprint sauropod" or giant Barosaurus(?)). Any comments and/or corrections are welcome. VS.

1. Argentinosaurus huinculensis (50–96.4 tonnes)

2. Patagotitan mayorum (42.5–77.6 tonnes)

3. Notocolossus gonzalezparejasi (40–75.9 tonnes)

4. Alamosaurus sanjuanensis (30–73 tonnes)

5. Mamenchisaurus sinocanadorum (60+ tonnes)?

6. Puertasaurus reuili (45–60 tonnes)

7. Sauroposeidon proteles (40–60 tonnes)

8. Paralititan stromeri (30–59 tonnes)

9. Dreadnoughtus schrani (26–59 tonnes)

10. Huanghetitan liujiaxiaensis (45–55 tonnes)

11. "Antarctosaurus" giganteus (33–55 tonnes)

12. Turiasaurus riodevensis (40–51 tonnes)

13. Futalognkosaurus dukei (29–51 tonnes)

14. Argyrosaurus superbus (26–51 tonnes)

15. Giraffatitan brancai (23–48 tonnes)

16. Brachiosaurus altithorax (28–46.9 tonnes)

17. Supersaurus vivianae (35–44 tonnes)

18. Xinjiangtitan shanshanensis (~40 tonnes)

References:

* Benson, R. B. J.; et al. (2014). Rates of dinosaur body mass evolution indicate 170 million years of sustained ecological innovation on the avian stem lineage. PLOS Biology. 12 (5): e1001853.

*  Bates, K. T.; et al. (2015). Downsizing a giant: re-evaluating Dreadnoughtus body mass. Biology Letters. 11 (6): 20150215.

* González Riga, B. J.; et al. (2016). A gigantic new dinosaur from Argentina and the evolution of the sauropod hind foot. Scientific Reports. 6: 19165.

*  Carballido, J. L.; et al. (2017). A new giant titanosaur sheds light on body mass evolution among sauropod dinosaurs. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 284 (1860): 20171219.

*  Benson, R. B. J.; et al. (2018). Cope's rule and the adaptive landscape of dinosaur body size evolution. Palaeontology. 61 (1): 13–48.

* Paul, G. S. (2019). Determining the largest known land animal: A critical comparison of differing methods for restoring the volume and mass of extinct animals (PDF). Annals of the Carnegie Museum. 85 (4): 335–358.

*  Campione, N. E.; Evans, D. C. (2020). The accuracy and precision of body mass estimation in non-avian dinosaurs. Biological Reviews. 95 (6): 1759–1797.

*  Molina-Perez, R.; Larramendi, A. (2020). Dinosaur Facts and Figures: The Sauropods and Other Sauropodomorphs. New Jersey: Princeton University Press. pp. 42–267.

*  Moore, A. J.; et al. (2023). Re-assessment of the Late Jurassic eusauropod Mamenchisaurus sinocanadorum Russell and Zheng, 1993, and the evolution of exceptionally long necks in mamenchisaurids. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 21 (1).

*  Paul, G. S.; Larramendi, A. (2023). Body mass estimate of Bruhathkayosaurus and other fragmentary sauropod remains suggest the largest land animals were about as big as the greatest whales. Lethaia. 56 (2): 1–11.

*  Woodruff, D. C.; et al. (2024). Seis-ing up the Super-Morrison formation sauropods. Journal of Anatomy. 247 (3–4): 682–698.

[Mike Taylor]

What happened to the Wikipedia page?

-- Mike.

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[Vladimír Socha]

It was removed, I don't know why. Unfortunately, most of these estimates are very wide ranging and it is almost impossible to say which of the giant titanosaurs and other large sauropods were heavier or longer than others based on just fragments of mostly a single skeleton...

Dne pátek 28. srpna 2026 v 15:01:39 UTC+2 uživatel Mike Taylor napsal:

[Ethan Schoales]

Does anyone know the title of the Wikipedia page in question?

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[Jura]

So far as I can tell the list of largest sauropods is still there, it's just under the umbrella of largest animals. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Largest_and_heaviest_animals#Table_of_the_largest_sauropods

None of this really belongs in an alleged encyclopedia anyway. It all reads like something out of The Guinness Book of World Records. 

[Chaos Soahc]

So does anyone know the size of argentinosaurus’s forelimbs, do we even have any material for it, I find that it was likely 4 - 4.3 meters but I don’t know if that’s just wild speculation 

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[Gregory Paul]

There is no limb material with the Argentinosaurus holotype. 

You can check out 

http://www.gspauldino.com/Titanomass.pdf

&

https://www.scup.com/doi/full/10.18261/let.56.2.5

GSPaul

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[Mickey Mortimer]

"There is no limb material with the Argentinosaurus holotype."

No doubt a typo intended to say there's no FORElimb material, as of course the type includes a tibia.

Mickey Mortimer

[Gregory Paul]

Thanks for the correction!

GSPaul

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[Vladimír Socha]

Thanks for the link and info. I think Bruhathkayosaurus and Maraapunisaurus should not be included, as these genera are based on now non-existing and somewhat dubious (albeit extremely interesting) fossil material... 

References:

Woodruff, C.; Foster, J. R. (2015). The fragile legacy of Amphicoelias fragillimus (Dinosauria: Sauropoda; Morrison Formation – Latest Jurassic). PeerJ PrePrints.

Galton, P. M.; Ayyasami, K. (2017). Purported latest bone of a plated dinosaur (Ornithischia: Stegosauria), a "dermal plate" from the Maastrichtian (Upper Cretaceous) of southern India. Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie - Abhandlungen. 285 (1): 91–96.

Carpenter, K. (2018). Maraapunisaurus fragillimus, N.G. (formerly Amphicoelias fragillimus), a basal Rebbachisaurid from the Morrison Formation (Upper Jurassic) of Colorado. Geology of the Intermountain West. 5: 227–244.

Pal, S.; Ayyasami, K. (2022). The lost titan of Cauvery. Geology Today. 38 (3): 112–116.

Paul, G. S.; Larramendi, A. (2023). Body mass estimate of Bruhathkayosaurus and other fragmentary sauropod remains suggest the largest land animals were about as big as the greatest whales. Lethaia. 56 (2): 1–11.

Dne úterý 1. září 2026 v 2:33:08 UTC+2 uživatel Gregory Paul napsal: