Bruhathkayosaurus
| Bruhathkayosaurus Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, | |
|---|---|
| Speculative life restoration of Bruhathkayosaurus | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | Saurischia |
| Clade: | †Sauropodomorpha |
| Clade: | †Sauropoda |
| Clade: | †Macronaria |
| Clade: | †Titanosauria |
| Genus: | †Bruhathkayosaurus Yadagiri & Ayyasami, 1987 |
| Species: | †B. matleyi |
| Binomial name | |
| †Bruhathkayosaurus matleyi Yadagiri & Ayyasami, 1987 | |
Bruhathkayosaurus (/bruːˌhæθkeɪoʊˈsɔːrəs/; meaning "huge-bodied lizard") is a controversial genus of sauropod dinosaur found in the Kallamedu Formation of India. The fragmentary remains were originally described as a theropod, but it was later determined to be a titanosaurian sauropod. Length estimates by researchers exceed those of the titanosaur Argentinosaurus, as longer than 35 metres (115 ft) and weighing over 80 tonnes. A 2023 estimate placed Bruhathkayosaurus as potentially weighing approximately 110–170 tonnes (110–170 long tons; 120–190 short tons). If the upper estimates of the 2023 records are accurate, Bruhathkayosaurus may have rivalled the blue whale as one of the largest animals to ever exist. However, all of the estimates are based on the dimensions of the fossils described in Yadagiri and Ayyasami (1987), and in 2017, it was reported that the holotype fossils had disintegrated and no longer exist.