| Brachiosaurids Temporal range: Late Jurassic - Late Cretaceous, 154–83 Ma |
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|---|---|
| Mounted skeleton of Giraffatitan brancai, Museum für Naturkunde | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Superorder: | Dinosauria |
| Order: | Saurischia |
| Suborder: | †Sauropodomorpha |
| Infraorder: | †Sauropoda |
| Node: | †Titanosauriformes |
| Family: | †Brachiosauridae Riggs, 1904 |
| Genera | |
Brachiosauridae are a family of dinosaurs, whose members are known as brachiosaurids. They were herbivorous quadrupeds with longer forelegs than hind legs - the name derives from the Greek for arm lizard - and long necks. Despite their apparently distinctive features, there is some dispute as to whether Brachiosauridae is really a distinct family or a collection of basal Titanosauriformes. As a result, there is also some dispute about which animals belong within this family.
Their masses would have ranged from 20 to 90 tonnes, and their unusually long and upright necks gave them access to the leaves of treetops that would have been inaccessible to other sauropods. Their long and spatulate (spoon-shaped) teeth were capable of processing tougher plant material than some other sauropods (such as Diplodocus). Some palaeontologists had speculated that if they could have reared upon their hind-limbs even higher branches could be reached. However, their short tail and hind-limbs would have placed the creatures centre of gravity quite far forward, and made such an action difficult.
Brachiosaurids existed until at least the late Campanian era (71-83 mya), as caudal vertebrae from that era have been found in Mexico.[1] Brachiosaurid fossils were first found in North America in the early 20th century, and are now known to have existed in Africa and Europe. The first evidence of brachiosaurids in Asia was recovered in 2001,[2] although the find consisted only of a few teeth. Teeth have also been found in the Middle East.[3]
The largest mounted skeleton in the world is a brachiosaurid: the Giraffatitan brancai (formerly Brachiosaurus brancai) at the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin, Germany.