I keep wishing there was a single place out there where I could look up Jensen’s old BYU specimen numbers for Supersaurus, Ultrasaurus and Dystylosaurus elements, and find the modern equivalents, or vice versa. Then I realised there’s no reason not to just make one. So here goes! The first column shows the specimen numbers as used in Jensen (1985), and last column contains Jensen’s own assignments except where noted.

By the way, does anyone know why the numbers were changed?

Notes

[1] This diplodocid caudal, which is obviously diplodocid based on Jensen’s own illustrations (Jensen 1985:figures 2D,E, 3E), was reassigned to Supersaurus by Curtice (1995).

[2] Jensen (1987:602-603) recognised his own error in referring this cervical to the brachiosaurid taxon Ultrasaurus, based on its bifurcated neural spine. He “provisionally refer[red] it to the Diplodocidae” in the text, but without specifying a genus or species. However in caption to illustrations in the same paper (Jensen 1987:figures 7A, B, 8C) he names the element as Supersaurus vivianae without comment.

[3] Jensen’s (1985) original description describes BYU 5500 (=BYU 9025) as a right scapulocoracoid, implying that BYU 5501 is the left; but this is incorrect.

[4] Jensen’s original Supersaurus/Ultrasaurus/Dystylosaurus description is confusing and contradictory in his assignment of specimen numbers. In his systematic palaeontology section, Jensen (1985:701) says that BYU 5502 is the ischium, BYU 5503 is the pair of mid-caudals and BYU 5504 is the sequence of 12 caudals. But the description on the same page contradicts this, giving the assignments shown here. The casting vote goes to the caption of Jensen (1985:figure 7), in which part A illustrates BYU 5503, the ischium; and parts C, D and D1 illustrate caudals that do not appear to be part of sequence of twelve.

[5] Curtice et al. (2001:36) say “An additional caudal vertebra (BYU 9077) is referred to (and figured as) Supersaurus in the text of Jensen (1985)”. This probably refers to Jensen 1985:figure 7:C, D, D1, which are captioned as follows: “C, BYU 5033, Supersaurus vivianae, referred specimen, ischium [sic]. D, D1, BYU 5504, Supersaurus vivianae, referred specimen, caudal vertebra.” Since part C of the figure is clearly a caudal vertebra, and since BYU 5503 is also illustrated as an ischium in part A of the same figure(!), it seems most likely that the caudals in part C and parts D and D1 of this figure are the pair described as BYU 5044 on pages 701-704.

Commentary (i.e. pointless whining)

For all his innovations in skeletal mounting and his amazing discoveries in the field, Jensen was evidently a markedly careless palaeontologist in many respects, and his contempt for specimen numbers in particular has created enormous problems. Even within a single page — even within a single figure caption — he was capable of contradicting himself on the numbers assigned to specimens. Most illustrations don’t give specimen numbers at all. And while in many respects the later work of Curtice et al. (1996) and Curtice and Stadtman (2001) is much better, they did the world no favours by simply switching to the new specimen numbers without providing a definitive key like the one I am trying to build here. It’s pretty silly that, 23 years on, we are reduced to guesswork like note 5.

References

• Curtice, Brian D. 1995. A description of the anterior caudal vertebrae of Supersaurus vivianae. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 15(3):25A.
• Curtice, Brian D. and Kenneth L. Stadtman. 2001. The demise of Dystylosaurus edwini and a revision of Supersaurus vivianae. Western Association of Vertebrate Paleontologists and Mesa Southwest Museum and Southwest Paleontologists Symposium, Bulletin 8:33-40.
• Curtice, Brian D., Kenneth L. Stadtman and Linda J. Curtice. 1996. A reassessment of Ultrasauros macintoshi (Jensen, 1985). M. Morales (ed.), “The continental Jurassic”. Museum of Northern Arizona Bulletin 60:87–95.
• Jensen, James A. 1985. Three new sauropod dinosaurs from the Upper Jurassic of Colorado. Great Basin Naturalist 45(4):697–709.
• Jensen, James A. 1987. New brachiosaur material from the Late Jurassic of Utah and Colorado. Great Basin Naturalist 47(4):592–608.