One of the All-time Neatest Diplodocid Skulls I Have Ever Seen!

Adorable!!!

Thanks so much to @SMMPaleo and @sciencemuseummn for sharing one of the all-time neatest diplodocid skulls I have ever seen!

What genus is it? Now that’s a question that merits further consideration :-).

Found at the poison Creek quarry, there are four(?) #sauropod taxa observed from that Late #Jurassic Wyoming locality: #Camarasaurus, #Haplocanthosaurus, #Apatosaurus, and #Diplodocus.

Some of the Saurosquad have been checking out the material during the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology annual meetings in Minnesota. We agree there is a Camarasaurus in the quarry, and we have a number of skulls of that genus and can confidently say no, this isn’t that.

There are at likely four Haplocanthosaurus in the quarry, from tiny to giant. There is more Haplo material here than any other sauropod at this locality, and some of the elements are of the right size to go with the skull. The problem is, we don’t have a skull of Haplo to compare it to. If one considers Haplo to be a #diplodocid, we at least have to further consider this possibility. If you prefer it in the #macronarian line then we can safely say this skull isn’t Haplo.

There are vertebrae that look like Apatosaurus. One would definitely call them Apatosaurine. However, as I am typing this, I am reminded that Supersaurus has Apatosaur-style mid-caudals like those present. I need to see if there are other Apato elements in the quarry (ah, inspiration can come at any time!).Apato tends to have a wider muzzle than this critter, however, I am sure ontogrnt has something to say about that ;-). We do have a number of Apato skulls, and I don’t think this is that, either.

Diplodocus skulls of this size are known and they do look quite similar to this. The issue is the vertebrae on the mount and in the collections have differences from what we consider “traditional” Diplo builds. We hoped it would be #Ardetosaurus, but that didn’t seem to pan out. There are at least two “Diplo” individuals in the quarry.

Work will need be done to bin each element into size classes and assign an initial taxon ID, then see if we can assemble individuals. The SMM team is clearly ready, who will study it?

#FossilCrates

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