RE: SANTANA DINOS & MEETING

["Thomas R. Holtz, Jr." <tholtz@geol.umd.edu>]

> From: owner-dinosaur@usc.edu [mailto:owner-dinosaur@usc.edu]On Behalf Of
> darren.naish@port.ac.uk
<
> Mickey Mortimer asked if the holotype of _Santanaraptor_ Kellner is
> the same thing as SMNK 2349 PAL. The answer is no, they are totally
> different specimens: however, whether or not they are from the same
> species/genus remains to be seen (I have yet to see the
> _Santanaraptor_ paper so cannot comment).
>
_Santanaraptor_ is housed in the Museu Nacional, Universidade Federal do Rio
de Janeiro.  The specimen number is MN 4802-V.  This is the same specimen
with soft tissue preservation previously mentioned by Kellner in his 1996
paper in Nature (379:32).

_Santanaraptor_ is much smaller than the Santana "oviraptorosaur": however,
because the specimens do not overlap in terms of material, it cannot be
resolved if they are the same taxon.  Futhermore, Kellner reports that
additional specimens of theropods larger than _Santanaraptor_ are known and
awaiting description.  Cool stuff!!

                Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
                Vertebrate Paleontologist
Department of Geology           Director, Earth, Life & Time Program
University of Maryland          College Park Scholars
                College Park, MD  20742
http://www.geol.umd.edu/~tholtz/tholtz.htm
http://www.geol.umd.edu/~jmerck/eltsite
Phone:  301-405-4084    Email:  tholtz@geol.umd.edu
Fax (Geol):  301-314-9661       Fax (CPS-ELT): 301-314-7843