Brachiosaurus and co.

["Timothy Williams" <twilliams_alpha@hotmail.com>]

Thomas R. Holtz, Jr wrote:

> Or, to use more recent terminology, brachiosaurids and titanosaurids > are 
> both members of Titanosauriformes.  They share a more recent common 
> ancestor with each other than either do with (for example) diplodocoids.

Apart from _Brachiosaurus_, other non-titanosaurid titanosauriforms include 
_Pleurocoelus_, Texan "Pleurocoelus", _Chubutisaurus_,  _Austrosaurus_, 
_Sonorasaurus_, and possibly _Bellusaurus_ (which Dong Zhi-Ming thinks is 
closely related to _Pleurocoelus_).   John McIntosh (1990) also included 
_Lapparentosaurus_ and _Volkheimeria_ in the Brachiosauridae, but this pair 
appear to be basal neosauropods or eusauropods (Salgado et al., 1997).

While on the topic of brachiosaurs, I have a question.  There is a rumor 
that a _Brachiosaurus_ skull may actually have been found in North America, 
and it looks very different to the skull of the Tendaguru _Brachiosaurus_ 
(B. brancai_).  In fact (says the rumor) it's usually been assumed that this 
skull belongs to _Camarasaurus_, which it resembles very closely.  Can 
anyone confirm?  (And apologies if I'm blabbing something top-secret :-) )


Tim

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