High Sauropod Diversity in Morrison Formation

[Troodon]

Paper by Phil Mannion et al. that supports the validity of the 24 recognized Sauropod species in the Morrison Formation.  Some authors have suggested this number is well overestimated and represent growth series.  

 

https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.210377

 

[jpc]

interesting...

to read later

[DD1991]

A number of bloggers and online commentators have said that Morrison Formation sauropod diversity has been overinflated. However, Haplocanthosaurus delfsi is from the lower part of the Morrison, and it is not unusual for multiple sauropod species to to be in one geologic unit, because the Shaximiao Formation in eastern China has yielded more than a dozen sauropod taxa, most of which are mamenchisaurids. Supersaurus for the moment is known only from postcranial remains, and no bonafide turiasaur, euhelopodid, or mamenchisaurid has been reported from the Morrison Formation. As our understanding of the biostratigraphy of the Morrison Formation further improves, it will be clear that some Morrison sauropods were not coeval with others.