Brachytrachelopan
Brac-e-trac-el-o-pan
Name meaning: Short-necked Pan
Time Period: Oxfordian-Tithonian (Late Jurassic) 161–143 Mya
Locations: Argentina-Chubut Province
Taxonomy: Sauropoda-Dicraeosauridae
Subspecies: B.mesai
Characteristics ~ ~ ~ ~
Brachytrachelopan is a sauropod with a comically short pinched neck that makes it look oddly proportioned and is against what sauropods are best known for: their long necks. Brachytrachelopan was part of the Dicraeosaurid Family, which have proportionally shorter necks than other sauropods. But Brachytrachelopan takes that to the extreme and has a 40% shorter neck than its closest relative Amargasaurus. Brachytrachelopan was around 33 feet long and 5 ½ tons, and lived in Argentina in the late Jurassic period. Brachytrachelopan must have eaten the low growing shrubbery while the much taller Tehuelchesaurus ate from the treetops allowing Brachytrachelopan to not be in direct competition for food with Tehuelchesaurus. Brachytrachelopan also had a long whip-like tail to defend itself from the region's predator Pandoravenator.
History & Fossils ~ ~ ~ ~
Brachytrachelopan was discovered in 2005 by a shepherd who lost his herd, stumbling into its bones on a whim. This gave Brachytrachelopan its name: Short-necked Pan, as Pan was a Greek god of the wild and most associated with shepherds, and flocks
