Re: Ceratosarus: Scutes n Scales?

[Tom Holtz <tholtz@geochange.er.usgs.gov>]

>I am currently working on a sculpture of  Ceratosaurus nasicornis.  I am
>using all the material I can find in the "popular" literature.  Greg Paul's
>excellent book "Predetory Dinosaurs" and his illustrations in other books are
>most useful for gross anatomy, and action postures.  All the material I have
>on  Ceratosaurus tell me that there are a row of dorsal scutes running down
>the back, but not much else about them.  Can anyone tell me what these scutes
>looked like.  Did they have a "keel" or a triangular shape, or were they just
>long oval bumps.

The scutes on the type Ceratosaurus are, unfortunately, not in the best of
shape, preservation-wise.  They are now only some knobby lumps.  For more
detail, you should try and find a copy of Gilmore's 1920 monograph on the
theropods of the Smithsonian - it has all the close-ups you'll want of the
Certaosaurus bones.

Gilmore, C.W.  1920.  Osteology of the carnivorous Dinosauria in the United
States National Museum, with special reference to the genera Antrodemus
(Allosaurus) and Ceratosaurus.  Bulletin of the U.S. National Museum,
110:1-154.

>Greg Paul's beautiful detailed illustration of a
>Ceratosaurus head  ("Predetory Dinosaurs" pp 279)  shows some large
>distinctive scales running around the orbit and the ridges behind the eye.
>  Is this kind of detail preserved or suggested in the fossil record, or is
>this highly educated conjecture on Mr Paul's part?

Conjecture, but (in my opinion) very reasonable.

                                
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.                                   
tholtz@geochange.er.usgs.gov
Vertebrate Paleontologist in Exile                  Phone:      703-648-5280
U.S. Geological Survey                                FAX:      703-648-5420
Branch of Paleontology & Stratigraphy
MS 970 National Center
Reston, VA  22092
U.S.A.