Re: New giant sauropod from Argentina

[Mike Taylor <mike@indexdata.com>]

> Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 09:59:30 -0300 (EST)
> From: Hebert Bruno Campos <hebertbruno@pop.com.br>
> 
> Discovered giants in Patagonia - Argentineans and Brazilians find
> new evidences of great dinosaurs
> 
> http://cienciahoje.uol.com.br/controlPanel/materia/view/3248

Hot damn, I _have_ to learn Spanish, stat!

Can anyone offer even a partial translation of this?

The vertebra illustrated at
        http://cienciahoje.uol.com.br/images/ch%20on-line/galeria/3248d.jpg
looks like a brachiosaurid cervical to me, and the "reconstruction" at
        http://cienciahoje.uol.com.br/images/ch%20on-line/galeria/3248g.jpg
is also, I think, meant to be a brachiosaur (though with short arms).

I am guessing the phrase "um animal com mais of 30 meters of
comprimento" means something like "an animal at least 30m is length".
Assuming a length of 24m for the _Brachiosaurus brancai_ holotype HMN
SII, that suggests that the new animal is 25% longer, which would
imply (for animals of similar proportions) about twice the weight.
Hoo, boy.  Patagonia does it again.

 _/|_    _______________________________________________________________
/o ) \/  Mike Taylor  <mike@indexdata.com>  http://www.miketaylor.org.uk
)_v__/\  Orthogonality uber alles!

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