Re: Sonorasaurus

[William Gibson Parker <wgp@dana.ucc.nau.edu>]

On Tue, 23 Jun 1998, Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. wrote:

> At 03:00 PM 6/22/98 -0700, William Gibson Park wrote:
> I have no idea why it
> >is published in such an obscure journal for such a rare find, a Middle
> >Cretaceous Brachiosaurid!
> 
> "Middle" (really late Early) K brachiosaurids are hardly a new discovery:
> Astrodon (aka Pleurocoelus), from the late Early K of Maryland, was known
> long before Brachiosaurus!  Furthermore, some of the Aptian-Albian sauropod
> material from northern Africa has been ascribed to brachiosaurids.
> 
> Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
> Vertebrate Paleontologist     Webpage: http://www.geol.umd.edu
> Dept. of Geology              Email:th81@umail.umd.edu
> University of Maryland        Phone:301-405-4084
> College Park, MD  20742       Fax:  301-314-9661
> 
> 
What I meant was that Sonorasaurus is from the Albian in North America.
This is the first sauropod of this age found in N. America, correct?
Pleurocoelus nanus dates from the Hauterivian-Barremian, which is early
Cretaceous.  Am I way off base here?  Anyways it is a significant find and
judging from the response I've been getting from the post many people seem
to wish the description was more accessible rather than in a journal which
usually never deals much with dinosaurs. Thanks for clearing me up, you 
are correct that Middle K. sauropods are common elsewhere in the world.
-Bill Parker
Northern Arizona University