Re: Triassic Sauropods

[Dinogeorge@aol.com]

In a message dated 4/6/01 12:06:39 PM EST, mbonnan@hotmail.com writes:

<<  A good example of this is seen in 
 the photographic plates of Opisthoscoelicaudia in Borsuk-Bialynicka (1977). 
>>

My guess is that this and a lot of other minor things are long-branch 
convergent in Opisthocoelicaudia and titanosaurids. There is just NO WAY 
Opisthocoelicaudia is a titanosaurid, as in some cladistic classifications; 
the dorsal and caudal verts couldn't be more different. Indeed, I'm fairly 
sure that Opisthocoelicaudia is a junior synonym of Nemegtosaurus, as has 
been proposed before; the Nemegtosaurus head probably does go with the 
Opisthocoelicaudia body. Just as the skull of Nemegtosaurus is >roughly< 
transitional between macronarian skull and diplodocimorph skull, so is the 
body of Opisthocoelicaudia >roughly< transitional between the macronarian 
body and the diplodocimorph body. Not surprisingly, Chinese euhelopodids are 
basal to both Nemegtosaurus and Opisthocoelicaudia.