OMNH 1331, another big apatosaurine caudal
January 28, 2018
Here’s another vertebra from the big Oklahoma apatosaurine. Based on the size and shape of the transverse process, and the large pneumatic chambers on either side of the neural canal, I think this is probably a 4th caudal, but it could plausibly be a 3rd or a 5th. The centrum is 33 cm tall by 36 cm wide.
For other elements of the big Oklahoma apatosaurine, please see:
- The giant Oklahoma Apatosaurus: OMNH 1670
- The giant Oklahoma Apatosaurus: OMNH 1670 redux
- OMNH 1331 is my new hero
- OMNH 2162, probable dorsal 2 of the big apatosaur
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January 28, 2018 at 2:34 am
WOW!!! The size of that sucker!!
January 28, 2018 at 8:07 am
Yeah, it’s a pretty wonderful thing.
I should have put these in the post – here are the transverse diameters of the posterior centrum faces (in mm) in caudals 1-5 of some apatosaurines, according to Gilmore (1936: p. 210):
CM 3018, A. louisae
300, 290, 280, 280, 285
UWGM 15556 (= CM 563), B. parvus
325, 305, 295, 270, 265
FMNH P25112, apatosaurine?
390, 380, 360, 350, 330
So, 25-30% bigger than CM 3018, which is right in line with the other elements of the Oklahoma giant.
Interestingly, not much bigger than FMNH P25112. That one’s an odd beast. The mounted skeleton is made of two individuals, back half of one and front half of another. And the hindmost individual is oddly proportioned – the femur is only 2.5% longer than that of CM 3018 (1830mm vs 1785) but the proximal caudals are about 30% larger in diameter. Not sure what to make of that.
January 28, 2018 at 2:17 pm
Are there any appendicular elements of OMNH 1331 floating around?
January 28, 2018 at 7:24 pm
A few. The best is a complete tibia that is IIRC 135 cm long, compared to 111.5 cm for CM 3018 and and 101 cm for UWGM 15556. There’s an astragalus that goes with that tib, that Matt Bonnan said was the biggest sauropod astragalus he’d ever seen. And there is a very big scap with a broken blade.
I have pics of all of these things, will start getting them up as and when.
January 30, 2018 at 1:10 am
Just proof that everything gets bigger as you get closer to Texas.
January 30, 2018 at 3:16 pm
except for Amphicoelias fragillimus, for which I have new archival proof to be published later this year.
January 30, 2018 at 3:17 pm
Ah, but who can trust anything palaeontologists say these days? :-)
January 30, 2018 at 11:38 pm
Really looking forward to Carpenter’s paper. Could these be photos of Amphicoelias in situ with a worker or two for scale???
February 20, 2018 at 6:39 am
[…] the first things I had to figure out was how to tell broken vertebrae of Camarasaurus from those of Apatosaurus (at the time; Brontosaurus is back in contention now). Here’s a thing I made up to help me […]