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This post reminded me a question: is there any
consensus about Brachiosaurids' high nostrils? Could be a trunk? The old
water-living, hippopotamus-like theory seems to be wrong, doesnt
it?
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, March 18, 2002 12:41
AM
Subject: Giraffatitin brancai Vs
Brachiosaurus brancai Vs Brachiosaurus altithorax
Ok...... I've been
trying to figure something out concerning _Brachiosaurus altithorax_ ,
_Brachiosaurus brancai_ and _Giraffatitin brancai_..... Maybe Mr.
Gregory S. Paul and Dino George can help me out . :-)
All right.....
the type _Brachiosaurus altithorax_ was named in 1903 by Riggs and is
from the western US. Janensch found and named _Brachiosaurus brancai_ from
Tanzania in 1914. He knew it was a brachiosaur, but considered it distinct
enough to be a separate species from _B. altithorax_. Now, in 1988, Paul
takes another look at this and comes to the conclusion that _B. altithorax_
and _B. brancai_ were more distantly related...... So, we get _Giraffatitin
brancai_ replacing _B. brancai_...... So now we have a subgenus of
_Brachiosaurus_. Then, three years later, George Olshevsky elevates
_Giraffatitin brancai_ to generic status, separating it from _Brachiosaurus_.
Why?
I can't find anything specific as to why this separation
took place. What characters are so different in the two that warrants separate
genus? The only thing I keep finding is that _Giraffatitin brancai_ has the
highest arched nasals found in sauropods.... There has to be more to it than
this. :-)
Also...... I'm guessing that _Giraffatitan brancai_ is
the guy mounted in Berlin since it used to be _B. brancai_..... Is this guy
also mounted outside the Chicago Field Museum???? And, is that
_Brachiosaurus altithorax_ mounted at O'Hare Airport, or is that just
_Giraffatitin brancai_ again??? Which is the largest mount?
I'm sorry
if I botched something up........ this is just sooooooo confusing.....
Kris
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