Re: 2 become 1 (spinosaurian & titanosaurian)

["Jaime A. Headden" <qilongia@yahoo.com>]

George Olshevsky (Dinogeorge@aol.com) wrote:

<As I recall, the neural spines of the dorsal vertebrae of Opisthocoelicaudia 
are bifid, which is
not the case in any other "titanosaur." (Need to check in Rapetosaurus, 
though.)>

  *Rapetosaurus* appears to have non-bifid neural spines, though the paper is 
not too clear on the
condition. Hopefully, Cathy Forster can help on this issue. However, the 
pelvic, femoral, manal,
and humeral anatomy, as well as the dorsal vertebral, sacral, and caudal 
anatomy, sans the
opisthocoely, indicates that *Opisthocoelicaudia* is a titanosaurid. This 
includes metacarpals
arranged in a tight arc, facing laterally, which lack articulations for 
phalanges; forwardly
inclined and set neural spines on anterior and mid-caudals; simple pleurocoels 
in the vertebrae;
distal caudals biconvexically acoelous (absence of pleurocoels is not 
diagnostic); the scapula is
superficially titanosaurid, if only for the lack of an angle between the blade 
and the acromion
(the coracoid is subrectangular and fused to the scapula); ulna bears distinct 
olecranon process
that projects only caudally; the pubis is longer than the ischium; the femur is 
of the
"wide-gague" design, with a dorsally inclined head and a lateral 
sub-trochanteric crest.

=====
Jaime A. Headden

  Little steps are often the hardest to take.  We are too used to making leaps 
in the face of adversity, that a simple skip is so hard to do.  We should all 
learn to walk soft, walk small, see the world around us rather than zoom by it.

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