Re: Argentinosaurus

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

> These figures are probably overestimates, especially weight and height.
> Argentinosaurus is certainly not a brachiosaur; original classification in
> family Andesauridae is not presently in dispute.

Too right!  _Argentinosaurus_ is not a brachiosaur, but a full-blooded 
titanosaur.  Bonaparte and Coria (1993) put _Argentino_ in the Andesauridae, 
because of the presence of hyposphene-hypantra articulations in the dorsal 
(trunk) vertebrae - a "primitive" feature seen in _Andesaurus_ (and 
_Epachthosaurus_) but not later titanosaurids.  In their paper on 
titanosaurid evolution, however, Salgado et al. (1997) contradict this and 
say the h-h artics aren't there at all in _Argentino_.  Further they say 
that the Andesauridae is a paraphyletic (probably polyphyletic) assemblage 
of titanosaurs, and _Argentino_ belongs higher up in the titanosaur family 
tree, not at the base.

While on the topic of big South American sauropods, don't forget 
_"Antarctosaurus" giganteus_.  I haven't got the dimensions handy, but the 
femur is pretty huge.


Tim

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