Re: Camarasaurus and Brachiosaurus

["Mickey P. Rowe" <mrowe@indiana.edu>]

Brian apparently unsubscribed before he had a chance to send the
message enclosed below, so listproc rejected it.  Since I presume he's
either not going to be reading his mail today or will have somewhat
more pressing concerns I'm sending it on his behalf.

--
Mickey Rowe     (mrowe@indiana.edu)

--------------------------------
From: Brian Curtice <bcurtice@ic.sunysb.edu>
To: dinosaur@usc.edu
Date: Thu, 15 May 1997 07:06:21 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Camarasaurus and Brachiosaurus
In-Reply-To: <199705141238.IAA07993@umailsrv0.umd.edu>
Message-ID: <Pine.sola.3.91.970515065851.22050E-100000@sparky>

> >I just have two short questions on the features that separate the 
> >Camarasauridae from the Brachiosauridae?
> >
> >Isn't it something to do with differently shaped skulls?  I also think that
> to be classified as Brachiosauridae, a dinosaur would have to ridiculously
> long front arms in proportion to its back ones, like the one the family is
> named for, Brachiosaurus.

> There are many differences between the two families.  If Brian Curtice or
> one of our other sauropod experts has time, perhaps they could highlight
> some of them.

        Very little time indeed as tomorrow morning I'm off to Zimbabwe 
for the summer so this will be my last post for quite some time.  As for 
Cam vs Brach, look no farther than the neural spines, for Cam has 
bifurcate spines, Brach's are not bifurcate at all.  Plus the cervical 
vertebrae of Brach are looong while those of Cam are wide (Few things 
amaze me more in life than seeing the C. supremus cervicals at the AMNH, 
that things neckbase must have been as wide as my arm span!).  The 
forelimb elements (esp. the metacarpals) are loooong in Brach (look like 
radii they do) while those of Cam are shorter.  The pelvis of Brach looks 
like a triangle from above while those of Cam do not (well, at least not 
as much), no one knows what the B. althithorax skull looks like for sure, 
so I tend to ignore any distintions there since basically nothing 
confident can be said (but all of the latter is subject to change, heh 
heh heh).  Sorry I can't go into more detail but it is time to leave the 
Aerie...

BC