Brachytrachelopan

Type Species: Brachytrachelopan mesai

Classification: Dinosauria – Saurischia – Sauropoda – Gravisauria - Eusauropoda - Neosauropoda - Diplodocoidea - Flagellicaudata - Dicraeosauridae

Time Period: Late Jurassic

Location: South America (Argentina)

Diet: Herbivore   

Brachytrachelopan’s name translates as ‘short-necked Pan,’ Pan being the god of the shepherds (for this sauropod was discovered by an Argentinean shepherd). This short-necked sauropod is infamous because its neck is forty percent shorter than other dicraeosaurids of its lineage (quite a feat, given that the dicraeosaurids are known for short necks in comparison to other sauropods!); indeed, Brachytrachelopan has the shortest neck of any known sauropod. Dicraeosaurids in general had a tendency towards short necks, which scientists speculate was due to them being low browsers and specializing on certain food sources. Brachytrachelopan’s cervical neural arches were designed in such a way that they restricted neck movement, so that this sauropod was specialized to a diet of plants about one to two meters off the ground. Such a specialized diet might be a factor in why the dicraeosaurids didn’t reach large sizes. An interesting theory is that the dicraeosaurids of Gondwana dominated the ecological niches that elsewhere belonged to the ornithopods; it’s noteworthy that dicraeosaurids flourished in southern Gondwana but are virtually absent where ornithopods can be found. This may indicate that larger ornithopods and dicraeosaurids were ‘ecological analogs,’ in that they both underwent evolutionary adaptations from different lineages to dominate the same type of ecosystem.