Monday, December 28, 2015

The Giving of December. Barapasaurus

  Barapasaurus was an Early Jurassic sauropod that seems to be caught in between other sauropod forms.‭ ‬The vertebrae of Barapasaurus are solid which has seen this sauropod placed within the Cetiosauridae,‭ ‬however the narrow sacrum is more characteristic of the Vulcanodontidae sauropods.‭ ‬Palaeontologists are split as to which placement is the most valid which is why‭ ‬Barapasaurus is credited as belonging to either one of these groups.
       Barapasaurus was big for an early sauropod,‭ ‬but the mix of the above characteristics has seen Barapasaurus described as having a more standard sauropod form.‭ ‬More specialised sauropods would not exist in large numbers until the late Jurassic with the appearance of diplodocids like Diplodocus and Apatosaurus,‭ ‬and macronarians like Camarasaurus and Brachiosaurus.‭ ‬Not long after, the titanosaurs evolved from existing sauropods to take developments even further.

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