Opisthocoelicaudia
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Opisthocoelicaudia is an odd sauropod. It's usually found to be related to Alamsaurus and possibly Saltasaurus, it has very robust limbs, and surprisingly short tail, and (thanks to "Nemegtosaurus") a pleasantly complete skull. One thing it's missing are most of the cervicals - here I've started with sub-adult Alamosaurus as a scaling guide and then went just a little shorter. The back slopes up gently to the shoulders, but seems to flex up strongly in the preserve cervicodorsal juncture.
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The dinosaur's body seems to be posing weirdly, with the ribs going apposed to the body?
How possible is it that it had extra cervicals like Dongbeititan and Rapetosaurus?
With that back not very inclined and a (I calculate) low center of mass, wouldn't the (normal / natural) position of the neck on the march be closer to the horizontal?
On a separate issue, I want to draw a Lirainosaurus. Do you know of any skeletal of this sauropod I can use for reference? If not, in your opinion, should I depict it Opisthocoelicaudia style or Alamosaurus style?
On a separate issue, I want to draw a Lirainosaurus. Do you know of any skeletal of this sauropod I can use for reference? If not, in your opinion, should I depict it Opisthocoelicaudia style or Alamosaurus style?
The most anterior preserved vertebrae seem to arch up, which is why I continued the trend. It IS less raised than in macronarians with more upward tilting backs. Among sauropods, the only ones that definitely have more horizontally oriented necks are dipldocoids, though Saltasaurus is often restored that way (I haven't been able to get enough reference material to check that). Otherwise sauropods seem to have mostly had necks raised above horizontal to one degree or another.
Ok, I can see everything much clearer now, thanks Scott.
so you can use this a nemgetsaurus right since they might be the same?
Yes.
It's awesome to have an Opisthocoelicaudia with a more rigorous approach to the neck and head, most of the time it... doesn't really look like people care, since they're unpreserved.
I'm curious about the torso, though, the paper's measurements for the centra of dorsals 1 to 11 ''without balls'' combined give about 2.2 meters, with cartilage maybe closer to 2.4. This one (going by the scale bar) is 3 meters in the same measurement. Is it a bigger specimen, or a different vertebra articulation, or something else?
I'm curious about the torso, though, the paper's measurements for the centra of dorsals 1 to 11 ''without balls'' combined give about 2.2 meters, with cartilage maybe closer to 2.4. This one (going by the scale bar) is 3 meters in the same measurement. Is it a bigger specimen, or a different vertebra articulation, or something else?
It's the same specimen. "Without the balls" is a useful comparative measurement for other sauropods that do this (or use "rim to rim" measurements, though that would be slightly smaller), but the anterior "ball" doesn't sit all the way into the concave posterior of the centra, so the functional distance even before cartilage is larger than that measurement indicates. In general I try to use the neutral articulation of the zygapophyses as a guide to reconstructing intervertebral cartilage.
Alright, thanks!
so thats what lacking wrist bones looks like also bigger than I expect what with all the old size referencing it being 37-40 feet
awesome
How to forget that name?
Is like they really tried to make it hard to pronunce but unforgettable at the same time.
Is like they really tried to make it hard to pronunce but unforgettable at the same time.
Looks like the dachshund of the sauropods. 
wacky fella
Powerful legs it seems ^_^
boy those legs were beefy!
Presumably Opisthocoelicaudia/Nemegtosaurus won most of the sauropod arm-wrestling contests.
Not hard to see why. 😁
the soft tissue distribution of the belly looks weird... i assume it's due to the sternum?
also interesting that you added manual phalanges
also interesting that you added manual phalanges
Yes, it's the level of the sternum vs the shape of the rib cage and depth of the pelvis.
I'd heard that Opisthocoelicaudia was weird, but I hadn't realized just how weird until I saw this. It's so squat and chubby.
Looking nice! Will be a great future reference.
To clarify - "Opis-tho-see-li-cod-ia'
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