March 22, 2006 — Paleontologists recently identified a sauropod dinosaur whose neck probably stretched more than 24 feet, according to a new study.

The new dino species, Erketu ellisoni, is about eight feet shy of taking on what may be the world's longest necked dinosaur, mamenchisaurus, which had a 32-foot long neck and a body that was bigger than a school bus.

What could put the new dinosaur in the record books, however, is the length of its neck in proportion to its trunk height. Based on fossil analysis, researchers estimate that the rest of E. ellisoni's body was about 9.8 feet tall, meaning that its neck was probably over twice as long as the rest of its body.

"One other thing that is particularly interesting about this dinosaur is that it belongs at the base of the Titanosauria sauropods," said Daniel Ksepka, lead author of the study, which is published in the current issue of the journal AMNH Novitates.

Ksepka, a Columbia University graduate student working at the American Museum of Natural History, explained to Animal Planet News that Titanosauria refers to a successful group of sauropods that spread throughout the world and survived until the end of the Cretaceous Period, around 65 million years ago.

He added, "Among this group we see armored dinosaurs and all kinds of size extremes from large to small. E. ellisoni was one of the earliest species in this group and it demonstrates yet another unusual body type that these animals evolved."

So far, the researchers have collected a chest plate, two lower leg bones, a potato-sized anklebone and neck vertebrae for the newly identified beast. Each vertebra alone measures nearly two feet, or about the size of two loaves of bread stuck end to end.

Computerized tomography (CT) scans of the vertebrae reveal that they are not solid, but filled with small pneumatic chambers, like the holes in Swiss cheese. This would have reduced the neck's weight.

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