Re: Question concerning Brachiosaurus and Ultrasauros

[Dinogeorge@aol.com]

In a message dated 96-01-13 04:01:11 EST, klausman@rz.uni-sb.de (Klaus
Richter) writes:

>For me - I'm not a palaeontologist, maybe there are differences between
>both dinosaurs - these animals should have one name - Ultrasaurus or
>Brachiosaurus. What's the actual discussion about it (if there's one)?
>
>

Many workers consider Jensen's _Ultrasauros_ (note the spelling:
_Ultrasaurus_ is the name of a Korean sauropod, created two years before
Jensen described the Dry Mesa _Ultrasaurus_, whose name therefore had to be
changed, according to the rules of zoological nomenclature) to be a synonym
of _Brachiosaurus_. But the main reason you note great similarities between
the big forelimb that you often see pictured with Jensen is that Jensen
simply scaled up a _Brachiosaurus_ forelimb to a size that would match the
huge _Ultrasauros_ scapula, just to get an idea of the forelimb's possible
length. As far as I know, none of the actual forelimb bones of _Ultrasauros_
have yet been found.