Poll: sauropod vertebra picture of the decade
October 2, 2017
I can’t even count how many sauropod vertebra pictures we’ve posted here across the last ten years, but I am confident that the total comes to at least a lot. Here’s a picture from each year of the blog’s existence so far — let’s vote on which is the best!
November 15, 2007: Xenoposeidon week, day 1: Introducing Xeno
The stark beauty of the Xenoposeidon proneneukos holotype NHMUK R2095, a mid-to-posterior partial dorsal vertebra in left and right lateral views.
February 1, 2008: Your neck is pathetic
Sauroposeidon proteles holotype OMNH 53062, 8th cervical vertebra in left lateral view (1400 mm total length). Entire human neck for scale.
January 7, 2009: The sauropods of Star Wars: Special Edition
Our old friend Giraffatitan brancai MB.R.2181 once more, this time with Matt for scale.
February 12, 2010: Tutorial 8: how to photograph big bones
The Archbishop in all its glory. The much-loved dorsals 8 and 9, in right lateral view, of the Tendaguru brachiosaurid NHMUK R5937.
May 16, 2011: Why the long necks? Probably not sexual selection
Taylor et al. (2011), fig. 1: Sauropod necks, showing relationships for a selection of species, and the range of necks lengths and morphologies that they encompass. Phylogeny based on that of Upchurch et al. (2004: fig. 13.18). Mamenchisaurus hochuanensis (neck 9.5 m long) modified from Young & Zhao (1972: fig. 4); Dicraeosaurus hansemanni (2.7 m) modified from Janensch (1936: plate XVI); Diplodocus carnegii (6.5 m) modified from Hatcher (1903: plate VI); Apatosaurus louisae (6 m) modified from Lovelace, Hartman & Wahl (2008: fig. 7); Camarasaurus supremus (5.25 m) modified from Osborn & Mook (1921: plate 84); Giraffatitan brancai (8.75 m) modified from Janensch (1950: plate VIII); giraffe (1.8 m) modified from Lydekker (1894:332). Alternating grey and white vertical bars mark 1 m increments.
April 15, 2012: Neural spine bifurcation in sauropods, Part 6: more reasons why Haplocanthosaurus is not a juvenile of a known diplodocid
Wedel 2009: Fig. 6. Pneumatization of the presacral vertebrae in Haplocanthosaurus. (A) X-ray image of a posterior cervical vertebra of CM 879 in right lateral view. (B) A CT slice through the same vertebra. (C) X-ray image of an anterior dorsal vertebra of CM 572 in left lateral view. (D) X-ray image of the same vertebra in anterior view.
January 16, 2013: Plateosaurus is pathetic
Our old friend C8 of the Giraffatitan brancai paralectotype MB.R.2181 in left dorsolateral view, with a comparable cervical of the prosauropod Plateosaurus for scale.
February 12, 2014: Can PeerJ really be only a year old?
Barosaurus lentus holotype YPM 429, Vertebra Q (C?13). Top row: left ventrolateral view. Middle row, from left to right: anterior view, with ventral to the right; ventral view; posterior view, with ventral to the left. Bottom row: right lateral view, inverted. Inset shows diapophyseal facet on right side of vertebra, indicating that the cervical ribs were unfused in this individual despite its great size. Note the broad, flat prezygapophyseal facet visible in anterior view. (Taylor and Wedel 2013b: figure 6)
September 14, 2015: So what were apatosaurs doing with their crazy necks?
A slide from our 295 SVPCA talk, illustrating key points in apatosaurine neck morphology that led us to the BRONTOSMASH hypothesis.
May 18, 2016: Thank you to all our Sauropocalypse hosts!
Mike compares Jensen’s sculpture of the big Supersaurus cervical BYU 9024 with the actual fossil.
August 15, 2017: “Biconcavoposeidon”
AMNH FARB 291, five consecutive posterior dorsal vertebrae of a probably brachiosaurid sauropod which we informally designate “Biconcavoposeidon”, in right lateral view.
(Yes, there are eleven pictures: we’ve been running for ten years, but that includes both the end of 2007 and the start of 2017.)
So, which is the picture of the decade? Vote here (and let us know in the comments if we missed your favourite).
Sauropod Vertebra Picture of the Week 
October 3, 2017 at 7:13 am
Mike: Totally off topic… A few weeks back I tried to e-mail you with a reference to a study of the effects of “opening (at least a bit)” access that I bought might interest you. Did you get my e-mail? (I may have been using an obsolete address.)
October 3, 2017 at 8:01 am
Yes, “Empirical research on opening access”. Sorry. I did get it, but it got buried under the avalanche of “too busy to deal with this right now” mail that arrived while I was at two consecutive conferences. I’ve moved it to the top of my stack, and will read and reply later today. My bad.
October 10, 2017 at 7:01 pm
I am long time reader (I started reading the blog when I was starting the research for Masters Thesis on the dentition of Giraffatitan in ca. 2012) but i think I never left a comment. The 10 anniversary is a good occasion to do so, I think.
I vote for the glorious depiction of the dorsals of the Archbishop from February 12, 2010: Tutorial 8: how to photograph big bones.
And please believe me, this is less to than 20% motivated by the fact that I would love to see that paper about the Archbishop that we were teased with for years.
October 10, 2017 at 10:05 pm
Thanks for commenting, Jens, great to hear from you.
Is your Masters thesis online anywhere? I’d be interested to see it.
Thanks for your vote. It adds to my shame in having procrastinated so outrageously over the Archbishop; and to my determination to get it done!
October 12, 2017 at 12:52 am
I also would really like to see the paper on the Archbishop completed; perhaps this would then get people interested enough to go and look for more specimens of it.
Further study at the Tendaguru location might turn up all kind of interesting creatures, as there appear to be a number of very incompletely known species from there.
The large carnivores known only from teeth spring to mind as do several sauropods.
LeeB.