Fig. 5 in Novel pneumatic features in the ribs of the sauropod dinosaur Brachiosaurus altithorax

Fig. 5. Gallery of pneumatic features in a selection of dorsal ribs of sauropods, showing a range of pneumatic morphologies from most (A) to least (G) typical. A. Brontosaurus excelsus Marsh, 1879, specimen not indicated but likely the holotype YPM 1980 from Como Bluff, Wyoming; Kimmeridgian– Tithonian (Late Jurassic). A1, unspecified right dorsal rib in anterior view showing pneumatic fossa in tuberculum (modified from Marsh 1896: fig. 9); A2, same rib in posterior view showing a corresponding fossa in the tuberculum, traversed by an accessory lamina (modified from Marsh 1896: fig. 10). B. Giraffatitan brancai (Janensch, 1914), specimen not indicated but likely MB.R.2181 from Tendaguru, Tanzania; Kimmeridgian–Tithonian (Late Jurassic), that forms the core of the mounted skeleton in the atrium of the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin. B1, 2nd left dorsal rib in posterior view, showing pneumatic fossa in tuberculum (modified from Janensch 1950b: fig. 108); B2, same rib in anterior view, showing corresponding fossa in the tuberculum (modified from Janensch 1950b: fig. 107). C. Apatosaurus louisae Holland 1915, holotype CM 3018 from Dinosaur National Monument, Utah; Kimmeridgian–Tithonian (Late Jurassic), 2nd right dorsal rib in anterior view, showing pneumatic fossa between capitulum and tuberculum (modified from Gilmore 1936: pl. 29). D. Malawisaurus dixeyi (Haughton, 1928), Mal-282-2 from Karonga District, northern Malawi; Aptian (Early Cretaceous), left dorsal rib in posterior view, showing pneumatic foramen between capitulum and tuberculum, and fossa below capitulum. Photograph by Eric Gorscak. E. Brontomerus mcintoshi Taylor, Wedel, and Cifelli, 2011, OMNH 27766 from Grand County, eastern Utah; Aptian–Albian (Early Cretaceous), right dorsal rib 1 in posterior view, showing a narrow sheet of bone connecting capitulum and tuberculum and a pneumatic space entering the shaft in front of it. Photograph by MPT, used in Taylor et al. (2011: fig. 7). F. Rapetosaurus krausei Curry Rogers and Forster, 2001, SMM P2007.4.1 from Mahajanga basin, northwestern Madagascar; Maastrichtian (latest Cretaceous), dorsal rib, position and orientation unknown, showing a complex set of pneumatic features in the tuberculum and between it and the capitulum. Photograph by Kristina Curry Rogers. G. Rukwatitan bisepultus Gorscak, O'Connor, Stevens, and Roberts, 2014, holotype RRBP 07409 from Rukwa Rift Basin, southwestern Tanzania; Aptian–Cenomanian (Middle Cretaceous). G1, anterior?left dorsal rib in posterior view; G2, close-up with highlights indication the locations of thin ridges described as a "capitulotubercular web" and interpreted as pneumatic by Gorscak et al. (2014: 1142–1143). Not to scale. Photograph by Eric Gorscak and Pat O'Connor. Published as part of Taylor, Michael P. & Wedel, Mathew J., 2023, Novel pneumatic features in the ribs of the sauropod dinosaur Brachiosaurus altithorax, pp. 709-718 in Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 68 (4) on page 714, DOI: 10.4202/app.01105.2023, zenodo.org