Open Paleo

Athenar

Whitlock et al., 2025 AH-thuh-NAHR

Named for Cleveland metal artist Athenar, whose music was described as 'the soundtrack to the majority of the work done on this specimen'. The species name honors David Berman, who carried out foundational modern work on diplodocoid skulls.

154.8–149.2 million years ago Kimmeridgian, Late Jurassic
Late Jurassic stages

Athenar is an extinct genus of dicraeosaurid sauropod dinosaur from the Late Jurassic of Utah, United States. The genus contains a single species, Athenar bermani, which was described by John Whitlock and colleagues in 2025 based on the holotype specimen CM 26552: a braincase and skull roof previously ascribed to the genus Diplodocus. The specimen was found in rocks belonging to the Morrison Formation at the Carnegie Quarry at Dinosaur National Monument.

Diagnosis

  1. Presence of a 'tooth' (triangular parietal expansion) in the parietal/opisthotic suture (sole autapomorphy)
  2. Single foramen for passage of the abducens (VI) nerve (distinct from Suuwassea emilieae)
  3. Narrow midline ventral expansion of the foramen for the optic nerve (distinct from Suuwassea emilieae)
  4. Presence of frontoparietal and postparietal fenestrae (absent in Kaatedocus and Smitanosaurus)
  5. Frontal contributes to the full anterior margin of the supratemporal fenestra (absent in Smitanosaurus and all other Morrison Formation sauropods except Suuwassea)

Species

Athenar bermani Whitlock et al., 2025

Type species

Named for David Berman, who together with John McIntosh carried out much of the foundational modern work on diplodocoid skulls at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History and was responsible for the initial description of the holotype specimen.

Holotype
CM 26552 , Carnegie Museum of Natural History
Material
Braincase and partial skull roof (frontal, parietal, partial postorbital, squamosal fragments)
Horizon
Morrison Formation, Kimmeridgian, Late Jurassic , 154.8–149.2 million years ago
Locality
Carnegie Quarry, Utah, United States Whitlock and colleagues (2025) date the Carnegie Quarry "ca. 150-151 Ma", which they label Tithonian; on the ICS chart v2024/12, whose Tithonian begins at 149.2 Ma, that is Kimmeridgian.

References

  1. Whitlock, J. A.; Garderes, J. P.; Gallina, P.; Lamanna, M. C. (2025). Athenar bermani, a new species of dicraeosaurid sauropod from Dinosaur National Monument, Utah, U.S.A. Palaeontologia Electronica. Coquina Press. doi:10.26879/1550

    Erects the genus and dates the Carnegie Quarry "ca. 150-151 Ma".

    whitlock2025a