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Pubic foramina/hooks/notches
>From Mickey Mortimer (had to fish this one out of the archives [curse you,
AOL!])
<<All of this has very little phylogenetic significance because the only
difference between a pubic foramen and a pubic notch is less completely
ossified bone, the two are easily evolved from one another. The obturator
flange/absence//process/foramen transformation would seem to be more
complex.>>
Perhaps you're right. On the other hand, *all* coelurosaurs (as far as I
know), from dromaeosaurs to therizinosaurs to tyrannosaurs right on down to
_Ornitholestes_ have completely open pubic notches.
_Siamotyrannus_ has a mostly-closed notch surrounded by a bony hook as in
_Sinraptor dongi_. This is one of several pelvic characters that suggest to
me sinraptorid rather than tyrannosaurid affinities for this animal, as it
would otherwise be the only coelurosaur (and certainly the only
maniraptoriform) with a partially-closed pubic notch.
--Nick P.