Outline: a typical sauropod
Erketu
Type species Erketu ellisoni
- Lived
- 101 to 72 million years ago, Late Cretaceous
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Length
- about 15 m (49 ft)
- Group
- Sauropods, Euhelopodidae
- Found in
- China and Mongolia
- Named by
- Ksepka and Norell 2006
Size comparison
To scale
Scale in metersOutline: typical sauropod shape
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
90 million years ago
Field notes
About Erketu
What it was like
Erketu was a sauropod about 15 meters (49 feet) long with an extremely long neck. Its neck bones are longer compared with its body than in almost any other sauropod.
Its world
It lived in the Late Cretaceous, in what is now Mongolia. It comes from the Baynshire Formation, where it shared the land with the therizinosaurs Segnosaurus and Erlikosaurus and the dromaeosaur Achillobator.
How it was found
Ksepka and Norell named Erketu in 2006. The type species is Erketu ellisoni. Its name comes from a figure of Mongolian belief.
Lived alongside
Found in the same rock formations
Close relatives
Other members of Euhelopodidae
Sources: WikidataNamed in: D. T. Ksepka and M. A. Norell. 2006. Erketu ellisoni, a long-necked sauropod from Bor Guvé (Dornogov Aimag, Mongolia). American Museum Novitates 3508:1-16