Twitter dinosaur



Dino Games

Erketu

Erketu - Meaning: Tengri (a Mongolian creator-god)

Erketu (er-kee-tu) is the name given to a genus of herbivorous dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous. It was found in Bor Guvé in Mongolia. Erketu is most closely related to Euhelopus and Titanosauria.

Dinosaur Erketu

Erketu Characteristics

Erketu was a sauropod dinosaur with an extremely long neck. Its neck was estimated to be twice as long as its body. The long neck of Erketu is the result of the individual vertebrae being greatly elongated, however, it is unknown if the number of cervical vertebrae was increased. Not much is known about Erketu, as no dorsal vertebrae of Erketu have been reported, however, it could have measured 15 metres long as some hindlimb material suggests the approixate size of the body.


Fossils have been found in Mongolia.


The type species, Erketu ellisoni, was described in March 2006 by Daniel Ksepka and Mark Norell of the American Museum of Natural History.

ERKETU CLASSIFICATION:
Kingdom:
Animalia (animals)
Phylum:
Chordata (having a hollow nerve chord ending in a brain)
Class:
Sauropsida
Order:
Saurischia - lizard-hipped dinosaurs
Suborder:
Sauropodomorpha
Infraorder:
Sauropoda
Unranked:
Titanosauriformes
Genus:
Erketu
Binomial name:
Erketu ellisoni







For a list of all Dinosaurs, Pterosaurs and Sea Reptiles featured on this site, click HERE!