Re: Alamosaurus Cervicals

["Mathew.J.Wedel-1" <sauropod@ou.edu>]

Alan Blake Coulson wrote:

> No cervicals of Alamosaurus have been officially described in the literature,
> though several have been collected. The legendary Barnum Brown collected a
> single sauropod cervical from the Big Bend country way back in c.a. 1941 
> which,
> to my knowledge, has never been described (maybe still sitting in its field
> jacket on some dusty shelf).

This may be the element I saw on my visit to TMM last year.  The vert I saw was
catalogued as _Alamosaurus_ and was definitely a cervical, but that's about all 
one
can tell.  The neural spine, cervical rib complex, and exterior cortical bone 
are
all blown off.  The exposed matrix filling the numerous interior camellae give 
the
vert a nubbly appearance reminiscent of petrified shag carpet.  The vert is 
similar
in proportion (centrum length vs. diameter) to those figured for _Saltasaurus_, 
for
what its worth.

On the subject of titanosaur cervicals . . . has there been any discussion of 
the
extremely *short* cervicals figured for _Titanosaurus colberti_ by Jain and
Bandhayopadyay (1997) [yeah, I probably got that second name wrong, but I'm 
working
from memory here]?  The middle and posterior cervicals are almost as wide as 
long.
This is a staggeringly unusual configuration for a sauropod, most of which went 
the
other direction in terms of neck length.  I have not seen any skeletal
reconstructions, but it looks to me as though _T. colberti_ could barely reach 
the
ground.  Jain and company should have gone for some publicity: "World's
Shortest-Necked Sauropod Discovered in India!" :-P

Matt Wedel
Oklahoma Museum of Natural History
2401 Chautauqua Ave.
Norman, OK 73072
sauropod@ou.edu