Re: EK sauropods

["Mickey Mortimer" <Mickey_Mortimer111@msn.com>]

Tim Donovan wrote-

> Isn't a Camarasaurus-like sauropod known from the Hauterivian Afrovenator
> environment, whereas Jobaria was earlier, of Valanginian age? Also, didn't
> Brian Curtice once mention a large EK camarasaur from North America?

The sauropod reported by Sereno et al. (1994) is Jobaria (Sereno et al.,
1999), both are reported to be from the Tiouraren Formation, which was said
to be Hauterivian-Barremian in Sereno et al. 1994 and Neocomian
(Valanginian-Barremian) in Sereno et al. 1999.

The Early Cretaceous North American camarasaurid is-
undescribed camarasaurid (Britt, Stadtman, Scheetz and McIntosh 1997,
Kirkland, Lucas and Estep 1998)
Barremian, Early Cretaceous
Yellow Cat Member of Cedar Mountain Formation, Utah, US
Material- five skulls, teeth (50x30x? mm), cervical vertebrae, dorsal
vertebrae, pelvis, more than seventy gastroliths
Description- prominent supraoccipital boss, deep sulcus between basal tubera
of basioccipital and basisphenoid, moderately short and thin basipterygoid
processes, teeth spatulate with massive lateral ridge, bifid cervical neural
spines, thin laminae on dorsal vertebrae, dorsal vertebrae opisthocoelous.
Comments- Over seventy gastroliths were found in the pelvic region ranging
in size and mass from 0.6 cc to 166 cc and 1.7 g to 406 g..  Some were
formed of fragile sandstone and siltstone, which aren't consistant with the
gastric mill hypothesis.
References- Sanders and Carpenter, 1998. Gastroliths from a camarasaurid in
the Cedar Mountain Formation. JVP 18(3) 74A.

Though as you mentioned Curtice, you might be referring to-
undescribed camarasauromorph (Forster, Curtice and Pagnac 1998)
Barremian, Early Cretaceous
Lakota Formation, South Dakota, US
Material- humerus, metatarsal
Comments- Forster et al. assign this species to either the Camarasauridae or
the Titanosauridae.
References- Forster, Curtice and Pagnac, 1998. First reported occurance of
sauropod remains from the Lower Cretaceous (Lakota Formation), Black Hills,
South Dakota.SVP 18(3) 43A

Mickey Mortimer