SauropodomorphaTitanosauriaMPC-D100/404

Opisthocoelicaudia skarzynskii

Opisthocoelicaudia skarzynskii skeletal reconstruction, left lateral view, reconstructed length ~16 m.
Scale bar = 1 meter
Taxon
Opisthocoelicaudia skarzynskii Borsuk-Bialynicka, 1977
Specimen
MPC-D100/404
Reconstructed length
~16 m (52 feet)
View
Left lateral
Drawing
© Scott Hartman
Drawn
2018
Clade
  1. Sauropodomorpha
  2. Sauropoda
  3. Neosauropoda
  4. Macronaria
  5. Titanosauria

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A Late Cretaceous titanosaur from Mongolia, Opisthocoelicaudia is known from a well-preserved skeleton lacking only the head and neck, type specimen MPC-D100/404. As luck would have it, another titanosaur (Nemegtosaurus) was only known from a skull. It has been suggested that they may be different specimens of the same animal, and recent discoveries have mostly backed this up, in which case Opisthocoelicaudia would be subsumed into Nemegtosaurus. Not all authors agree, so until more overlapping material is found to support it I am still labeling this Opisthocoelicaudia…but the head definitely follows Nemegtosaurus!