Table 1.
Cervical centrum elongation in neosauropod dinosaurs
| Genus (reference) | Cervical # | Length | Width | Height | Average | aEI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Camarasaurus (McIntosh et al. 1996) | 3 | 19.1 | 10.7 | 26.0 | 18.3 | 1.0 |
| 4 | 24.5 | 13.0 | 25.0 | 19.0 | 1.3 | |
| 5 | 31.0 | 16.0 | 26.5 | 20.7 | 1.5 | |
| Abydosaurus (this paper) | 3 | 23.0 | 10.4 | 5.8 | 8.1 | 2.8 |
| 4 | 32.0 | 10.7 | 7.3 | 9.0 | 3.5 | |
| Brachiosaurus brancai (Janensch 1950) | 3 | 35.2 | 12.3 | 11.6 | 12.0 | 2.9 |
| 4 | 51.0 | 13.2 | 13.8 | 13.5 | 3.8 | |
| 5 | 65.9 | 17.8 | 15.2 | 16.5 | 4.0 | |
| Malawisaurus (Gomani 2005) | 3* | 20.7 | 4.1 | 4.5 | 4.3 | 4.8 |
| 4* | 25.0 | 6.1 | 4.6 | 5.3 | 4.7 | |
| 5* | 32.0 | 6.5 | 6.0 | 6.2 | 5.2 | |
| Euhelopus (Wiman 1929) | 3 | 14.6e | 3.6 | 4.8 | 4.2 | 3.5 |
| 4 | 25.0e | 4.0 | 4.1 | 4.0 | 6.2 | |
| 5 | 26.35e | 4.6 | 6.5 | 5.5 | 4.8 | |
| Cloverly taxon; juvenile individual (M. D’Emic pers. comm.) | 7* | 48.5 | 12.0 | 6.6 | 9.3 | 5.2 |
| Sauroposeidon (Wedel et al. 2000) | 5* | 96.0 | 14.5 | 18.0 | 16.3 | 5.9 |
| Paluxysaurus (M. D’Emic pers. comm.) | 3* | 44.0 | 7.0 | 7.1 | 7.0 | 6.3 |
| 4* | 67e | 8.1 | 8e | 8.0 | 8.3 |
The elongation of cervical centra has been expressed as centrum length scaled to posterior centrum height (Wilson and Sereno 1998) or to posterior centrum width (Upchurch 1998). Here we scale centrum length to the average of centrum height and width (aEI) to avoid confusing changes in centrum elongation with those in cross-sectional shape as well as to account for deformation. Taxa are listed in order of increasing aEI. All measurements are in centimeters
Asterisks (*) indicate vertebrae whose positions are not known with certainty, e indicates an estimated measurement