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RE: Sauroposeidon
> From: owner-dinosaur@usc.edu [mailto:owner-dinosaur@usc.edu]On Behalf Of
> Toby White
>
>
> At 110My, wouldn't this be the wrong age (early Albian) for a
> Titanosaur in N.
> America? Yet its too recent to be a Brachiosaur. Very odd.
It is most assuredly not too recent for a brachiosaur, as at least SOME of
the _Astrodon_/_Pleurocoelus_ material (contemporaneous with
"Sauroposeidon") seems to be brachiosaurid. Furthermore, there is now
evidence of titanosaurs in North America by the mid-Cretaceous.
Of course, there is the whole question now of what other than _Brachiosaurus
altithorax_ and _B. (sometimes _Giraffatitan_) brancai_ IS a brachiosaurid.
It may be that "Brachiosauridae" in the old more inclusive sense includes a
paraphyletic grade of titanosaur outgroups.
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
Vertebrate Paleontologist
Department of Geology Director, Earth, Life & Time Program
University of Maryland College Park Scholars
College Park, MD 20742
http://www.geol.umd.edu/~tholtz/tholtz.htm
http://www.geol.umd.edu/~jmerck/eltsite
Phone: 301-405-4084 Email: tholtz@geol.umd.edu
Fax (Geol): 301-314-9661 Fax (CPS-ELT): 301-405-0796