Outline: a typical sauropod
Athenar
Type species Athenar bermani
- Lived
- 149 to 145 million years ago, Late Jurassic
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Group
- Sauropods, Dicraeosauridae
- Found in
- United States
- Named by
- Whitlock et al. 2025
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
145 million years ago
Field notes
About Athenar
What it was like
Athenar was a long-necked plant eater from the dicraeosaurid family, a group of sauropods with fairly short necks for their kind. It is known from a braincase and the roof of the skull.
Its world
It lived about 149 to 145 million years ago, in the Late Jurassic, in what is now Utah. Its bones come from the Morrison Formation, where it lived alongside Diplodocus, Allosaurus and Stegosaurus.
How it was found
The skull pieces were dug up long ago and were long thought to belong to Diplodocus. Whitlock and colleagues showed they were different and named Athenar in 2025. The type species is Athenar bermani.
Lived alongside
Found in the same rock formations
Close relatives
Other members of Dicraeosauridae
Sources: WikidataNamed in: J. A. Whitlock, J. P. Garderes, and P. Gallina, M. C. Lamanna. 2025. Athenar bermani, a new species of dicraeosaurid sauropod from Dinosaur National Monument, Utah, U.S.A. Palaeontologia Electronica 28(3):a50:1-13