Overview
Name meaning: Short-necked Pan
Time Period: Tithonian (Late Jurassic)
Locations: Argentina-Chubut Province
Taxonomy: Sauropoda-Dicraeosauridae
Subspecies: B.mesai
Characteristics
Brachytrachelopan is a sauropod with a comically short pinched neck. Around 33 feet long, and lived in Argentina in the late Jurassic period. Brachytrachelopan was part of the Dicraeosaurid Family, which is known for having 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 must not have been much of a folivore or leaf eater due to its short neck and likely ate the low growths of the forest, as the taller sauropods of the ecosystem like Tehuelchesaurus ate from the treetops.
History
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
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