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Largest Dinosaur Might Not Have Been So Big

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From Times Staff and Wire Reports

Seismosaurus, a massive dinosaur originally estimated at 170 feet long, appears to have been a mere 110 feet, according to a revised fossil analysis by paleontologist Spencer Lucas of the New Mexico Museum of Natural History.

Earlier estimates were based on the erroneous placement of a tail vertebra from an incomplete skeleton, he said.

The dinosaur remains the largest known animal, but the analysis raises the possibility that seismosaur may not belong in its own genus. It may simply be a bigger species within the relatively common dinosaur genus Diplodocus.

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