Brachiosaurus and Camarasaurus

[Brian Curtice <bcurtice@ic.sunysb.edu>]

On Mon, 5 May 1997, Bronson Barton wrote:

> I just have two short questions on the features that separate the 
> Camarasauridae from the Brachiosauridae? and also, what separates the 


        Camarasaurus possesses bifurcate neural spines, something our friend 
Brachiosaurus does not.  The humerus of Brachiosaurus is as long or 
longer than the femur, a most interesting bauplan.  The cervical 
vertebrae of Brachiosaurus, besides having some minutia differences, are 
much more elongate than those of Camarasaurus.  The parapophyses of 
Camarasaurus come off the cervical column much higher than those of 
Brachiosaurus (fothcoming, forthcoming, but I have to take a jaunt to see 
the Brachiosaurus material from the Kadzi Formation of Zimbabwe (then 
known as Rhodesia) and the Tendaguru beds before I "release the hounds 
of publication."  I won't touch the skull, I'll leave that news for my 
pal Dewey Ray Wilhite and his "quest for B. althithorax heads"...  Oh 
yeah, the metacarpals in Brachiosaurus look like radii!  I loved rolling 
out the BYU Brachiosaurus metacarpal and having young lasses and lads 
tell me what bone it was, to see their wide eyed grins when I showed what 
and where a metacarpal was, twas priceless!  I am very comfortable in 
proclaiming members of a separate Linnean family.

        BC