Talk:Giraffatitan/DraftReWrite

Giraffatitan is a genus of sauropod dinosaur known only from the Jurassic Tendaguru Formation of Tanzania. Only one species is known, G. brancai, named in honor of German paleontologist Wilhelm von Branca, who was a driving force behind the expedition that discovered Giraffatitan. Typically for a sauropod are the proportionally long neck, small skull, and large overall size of Giraffatitan. Also, the limbs were pillar-like, and the hands columnar. Unusually, in contrast, are the long forelimbs, which result in a steeply inclined trunk, making the overall body shape reminiscent of a modern giraffe. Also, while the tail is a typical long dinosaur tail, it is relatively short for a sauropod. These features show that Giraffatitan belongs in the family Brachiosauridae. Indeed,Giraffatitan brancai was originally described by German paleontologist Werner Janensch as a species of the North American sauropod Brachiosaurus from the Morrison Formation, as Brachiosaurus brancai. Recent research shows that the differences between the type species of Brachiosaurus and the Tendaguru material are so large that the African material should be placed in a separate genus.

Description
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Classification and species
Giraffatitan is currently classifed as

DINOSAURIA Owen, 1842

SAURISCHIA Seeley, 1888

SAUROPODA Marsh, 1878

NEOSAUROPODA Bonaparte, 1986

MACRONARIA Wilson and Sereno, 1998

TITANOSAURIFORMES Salgado, Coria and Calvo, 1997

BRACHIOSAURIDAE Riggs, 1904

GIRAFFATITAN Paul, 1988

GIRAFFATITAN BRANCAI (Janensch, 1914)

The Brachiosauridae under this classifiation are the sister group of the Somphospondyli (sensu Taylor 2009). The placement of Brachiosauridae within Macronaria and Titanosauriformes and basal to Titanosauria finds general agreement in the scientific literature.

Originally, Janensch had erected another species in the genus Brachiosaurus, ''"B." fraasi, which he later recognized as a junior synonym of "B." brancai''.

Etymology
Paul suggested that ''"B." brancai should be placed in a subgenus Giraffatitan''. For the name he gave "Loosely 'gigantic giraffe', in recognition of the taxon's giraffe-like form". "Giraffa" is the genus name of giraffes, and "titan" refers to the members of a race of Greek gods called Titans (Greek: Τιτάν - Ti-tan)), all of whom were of giant size.

Discovery and history
Giraffatitan brancai's type material was among the most spectacular finds made by the German Tendaguru Expedition at Tendaguru hill near Lindi in German East Africa (now Tanzania) between 1909 and 1912. The first elements were found on 21 September 1909 in the bed of the Kitukituki stream. In that year a large humerus (upper arm bone) standing almost vertically in the sediment was found, along with a femur (thigh bone), a tibia (shinbone), a fibula (calf bone) or radius and a pubis (part of the hip). The material was considered to stem from one individual and cataloged in the field log as "Skelett S" (skeleton S). In July 1910, after weeks were spent on the removal of overburden, 2.5 m long ribs were uncovered, and again a few weeks later four enormous cervical (neck) vertebrae and a scapula. October 1910 saw the discovery of a nearly complete skull including the lower jaw and teeth near the end of the neck. The quarry was by this time cut so far back into the wall of the Kitukituki river that a woven mat of bamboo shoots and tree trunks had to be laid against the quarry face, to protect the workers and exposed bones. Excavations on Skelett S started again on June 5, 1912. More neck vertebrae with delicate ribs were excavated, and a number of dorsal (trunk) vertebrae.

The material was transported to Lindi by porters, and from there to Berlin by ship. The Museum für Naturkunde was overwhelmed with the tons of material from Tendaguru, and preparation took several decades. Nevertheless, the type material of Giraffatitan brancai and sufficient material to complete a mount was freed from rock and conserved by 1935. *CHECK*

Type material
The lectotype material of Giraffatitan brancai is skeleton "Skelett SII", a partial skeleton from Tendaguru. It consists of skull fragments including dentaries, eleven cervical vertebrae, cervical ribs, seven dorsal vertebrae, nearly complete set of dorsal ribs, distal caudal vertebrae, chevrons, left scapula, both coracoids and sternal plates, right forelimb (except the humerus, wich is probably from a referred specimen from quarry "Ni") and manus, left humerus, ulna and radius, both pubes, partial left femur, right tibia and fibula. "Skelett SI" is a paralectotype, and consists of a skull and six cervical (neck) vertebrae.

Originally, the Tedaguru "Skelett S" was thought by Janensch to stem from one animal, and to be very similar to the North American genus Brachiosaurus. Therefore, Janensch described it as Brachiosaurus brancai, choosing the species name in honor of Wilhelm von Branca, then director of the Museum für Naturkunde and a driving force behind the Tendaguru expedition. Later, Janensch realized that the remains pertained to two separate animals, "Skelett SI" (skeleton S1) and "Skelett SII" (skeleton S2) both of which belonged to the same species. Janensch did not designate either of the two as lectotype, and Taylor in 2009 selected the more complete "Skellet S II" as the lectotype.

Other material
An even more complete skull, highly similar to that of Skelett S, was found in quarry "t", as well as elements of the hands and feet. A partial skeleton called "Skelett Y" (skeleton Y) was discovered in quarry "Y". On the basis of its scapula (shoulder blade) and humerus (upper arm bone) Brachiosaurus fraasi was erected, which later turned out to be a junior synonym of B. brancai. From quarry "D" came 23 vertebrae articulated with a sacrum (a hip bone), from quarry "Aa" another 18 vertebrae with a sacrum, from quarry "no" 50 articulated tail vertebrae, from GI 16 tail vertebrae and a number of limb bones, and much more material from other places, including many limb elements. Overall, more than 40 localities yielded material belonging to Giraffatitan. The genus is not known from any other locality.

Separation from Brachiosaurus
In 1988, Gregory S. Paul noted that Brachiosaurus brancai (on which most popular depictions of Brachiosaurus were based) showed significant differences from the North American Brachiosaurus, especially in the proportions of its trunk vertebrae and in its more gracile build. Paul used these differences to create a subgenus he named Brachiosaurus (Giraffatitan) brancai. In 1991, George Olshevsky asserted that these differences were enough to place the African brachiosaurid in its own genus as Giraffatitan brancai.

Further differences between the African and North American forms came to light with the description in 1998 of a North American Brachiosaurus skull. This skull, which had been found nearly a century earlier (it is the skull Marsh used on his early reconstructions of Brontosaurus), is identified as "Brachiosaurus sp." and may well belong to B. altithorax. The skull is closer to Camarasaurus in some features such as the form of the front teeth and more elongated and less hollowed-out on top than the distinctive short-snouted and high-crested skull of Giraffatitan. The classification of Giraffatitan as a separate genus was not widely followed by other scientists at first, as it was not supported by a rigorous comparison of both species. However, a detailed comparison was published by Michael Taylor in 2009. Taylor showed that "Brachiosaurus" brancai differed from B. altithorax in almost every fossil bone that could be compared, in terms of both size, shape, and proportion, finding that the placement of Giraffatitan in a separate genus was valid. He also found that Paul was correct in his assertation that there are distinct differences in proportion between the two genera.

Taphonomy
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pics
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