A large dinosaur’s skeleton has fetched $44.6m (£34m) at a Sotheby’s auction in New York City – the most ever paid for a fossil.

The plant-eating stegosaurus – nicknamed Apex – is 11ft (3.4m) tall and 27ft long from nose to tail, and “ranks high among the most complete skeletons ever found”, Sotheby’s said.

It was sold to an anonymous buyer, who said: “Apex was born in America and is going to stay in America” – in what is seen as a hint that it might be loaned to a US institution.

Apex was discovered by chance by a palaeontologist in 2022 near the suitably named town of Dinosaur in the western US state of Colorado.

“The finest stegosaurus to appear at auction, ‘Apex’ has made history today [Wednesday] selling for $44.6 million at Sotheby’s to become the most valuable fossil ever sold at auction,” Sotheby’s said in a statement.

The fossil exceeded its pre-sale estimates by more than 11 times, going “to applause after 15 minutes”, the auction house said.

Seven buyers took part in the bidding process for the largest stegosaurus fossil ever found.

Apex was discovered by Jason Cooper, a professional fossil hunter.

Mr Cooper dubbed it Apex because its formidable dimensions would have made it a dominant animal in its environment.

Apex is believed to have roamed the planet about 150 million years ago during the Late Jurassic Period.

The previous dinosaur fossil sale record was set in 2020, when a Tyrannosaurus Rex – known as Stan – fetched $31.8m.