Brachiosaurus altithorax

Brachiosaurus altithorax est species dinosauri qui in America Septentrionali aevo Iurassico exeunte abhinc annorum a 154 ad 153 milliones fere habitabat. Primum descripta est ab Elmer S. Riggs, palaeontologo Civitatum Foederatarum, anno 1903 ex fossilibus in valle Fluminis Colorati in Colorato occidentali repertis. Cui dinosauro binomen Brachiosaurum altithoracem dedit; nomen genericum Graece 'lacertam bracchiatam' significat, ad eius bracchia longa praeter solitum, atque epitheton specificum 'pectus profundum' significat. Aestimatur ab 18 ad 21 metra longus stetisse, et ab 28.3 ad 58 tonnas metricas ponderis fuisse. Collum inaequaliter longum, calvaria parva, omnisque magnitudo magna erat, quarum proprietatum omnes in sauropodis usitate videntur. Praeter solitum, ei erant membra anteriora membris posterioribus longiora, quam ob rem inclinatio trunci erat ardua, cauda pro portione breviori.

Refectum sceleti holotypi exemplar, quod extra Museum Historiae Naturalis Field exhibetur

Animalia — Chordata

Subordo : †Sauropodomorpha
Familia : †Brachiosauridae
Genus : †Brachiosaurus
Riggs, 1903^[1]
Species : Brachiosaurus altithorax
Riggs, 1903^[1]

Palaeontologia

Iurassico, 154–153 m.a.:

↓

Brachiosaurus est genus nominale Brachiosauridarum, exstinctae reptilium familiae, cui sunt aliquot sauropoda similia. Plurimae autem Brachiosauri imagines populo gratissimae re vera in Giraffatitane conduntur, in genere brachiosauridarum ex Formatione Tendaguru in Tanzania effossarum. Giraffatitan primum anno 1914 descriptum est a Werner Janensch, palaeontologo Germano, cui dinosauro binomen Brachiosaurum brancai dedit, sed hoc animal ad suum genus anno 2009 motum est. Tres aliorum Brachiosaurorum species rite nominatae sunt secundum fossilia in Africa et Europa reperta; duae autem nondum validae putantur, et tertia suum genus separatum factum est, nomine Lusotitan.

Holotypus Brachiosauri altithoracis iam est specimen plenissimum, et pauca specimina alia ad hoc genus pertinere putantur, ut unum ex rarioribus Formationis Morrison sauropodis sit. Fuisse consideratur herbivorum quod in altis depasci solebat, vegetationem usque ad 9 metra supra solum petens. Aliorum sauropodorum dissimilis, minime in membra posteriora stare poterat. Exemplo dinosauri per speciem ectothermicum diu profuit, propter eius magnitudinem et necessitatem satis pabuli, sed investigationes recentiores eum sanguinem calidum habuisse monstrant.

Inter maxime eximios maximosque dinosauros ab eruditis habitos, Brachiosaurus in cultura populari saepe apparet, insigniter in serie Jurassic Park. Hic cum habitu bono curiosoque, uno Megapterae novaeangliae simili, depingitur, quo ita homines in arbore cum capite appropinquat et eos spectat.

Cladogramma

Cladogramma Brachiosauridarum infra sequens interpretationem a Michael D. D'Emic anno 2012 refert.^[2]

Brachiosauridae

Europasaurus

Giraffatitan

Brachiosaurus

	Abydosaurus

	Cedarosaurus

	Venenosaurus

Nexus interni

9954 Brachiosaurus

Notae

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 Riggs, Elmer S. (1903). "Brachiosaurus altithorax, the largest known dinosaur". American Journal of Science. 4 15 (88): 299–306 .
↑ D'Emic, M. D. (2012). "The early evolution of titanosauriform sauropod dinosaurs". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 166 (3): 624–671 .

Bibliographia

Brinkman, P. D. 2010. The Second Jurassic Dinosaur Rush: Museums and Paleontology in America at the Turn of the Twentieth Century. Sicagi et Londinii: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0226074726.
Foster, J. 2007. Jurassic West: The Dinosaurs of the Morrison Formation and Their World. Bloomingtoniae: Indiana University Press.
Hallett, M., et M. Wedel. 2016. The Sauropod Dinosaurs: Life in the Age of Giants. Baltimorae: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 978-1421420288.
Klein, Nicole, et al., ed. 2011. Biology of the sauropod dinosaurs: understanding the life of giants. Bloomingtoniae: Indiana University Press. ISBN 9780253355089, ISBN 0253355087.
Sander, P. Martin, Andreas Christian, Marcus Clauss, Regina Fechner, Carole T. Gee, Eva-Maria Griebeler, Hanns-Christian Gunga, Jürgen Hummel, Heinrich Mallison, Steven F. Perry, Holger Preuschoft, Oliver W. M. Rauhut, Kristian Remes, Thomas Tütken, Oliver Wings, et Ulrich Witzel. 2011. "Biology of the sauropod dinosaurs: the evolution of gigantism." Biological Reviews 86 (1): 117–55. ISSN 0006-3231. doi:10.1111/j.1469-185X.2010.00137.x. PDF.
Stevens, K. A., et M. J. Parrish. 2005a. "Digital reconstructions of sauropod dinosaurs and implications for feeding." In The sauropods: evolution and paleobiology, ed. Jeffrey A.Wilson et Kristina Curry Rogers,178–200. Berkeleiae: University of California Press. ISBN 0520246233.
Stevens, K. A., et M. J. Parrish. 2005b. "Neck posture, dentition and feeding strategies in Jurassic sauropod dinosaurs." In Thunder Lizards: The Sauropodomorph dinosaurs," eds. Virginia Tidwell et Kenneth Carpenter. Bloomingtoniae: Indiana University Press. ISBN 0253345421.
Taylor, Michael P. 2009. "A re-evaluation of Brachiosaurus altithorax Riggs 1903 (Dinosauria, Sauropoda) and its generic separation from Giraffatitan brancai (Janensch 1914)." Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 29 (3): 787–806. ISSN 0272-4634. doi:10.1671/039.029.0309. PDF.