New Ceratopian

[AM Yates <Adam.Yates@bristol.ac.uk>]

Yes the long-awaited "The age of dinosaurs in Russia and Mongolia is
published" but it will cost you 90 pounds sterling to get it.
Fortunately Mike Benton was kind enough to lend me his copy for a little
while.
The chapter on Marginocephalians by Sereno contains the description of a
new Protoceratopid, Graciliceratops mongoliensis. The named is based on
the partial skeleton that Maryanska and Osmolska referred to
Microceratops gobiensis in 1975. Sereno points out that the types of
Microceratops are indeterminate juvenile ceratopians and it is therefore
a nomen dubium. Graciliceratops however can be diagnosed by the
extremely thin margins of its frill and the high tibio:femoral ratio (a
feature of immaturity itself I wonder). 

The ref is 

Sereno, P.C. 2000. The fossil record, systematics and evolution of
pachycephalosaurs and ceratopsians from Asia.pp. 480-516. In M. J.
Benton, M. A. Shishkin, D. M. Unwin and E. N. Kurochkin (eds) The age of
dinosaurs in Russia and Mongolia. Cambridge University Press.
   
Sereno's chapter also includes some superb specimen drawings of
Prenocephale, Tylocephale and Stegoceras.
The rest of the book is crammed with review articles dealing with all
Mesozoic
tetrapod groups from Russia and Mongolia. It is great to see (for purely
selfish reasons) for the first time descriptions, diagnoses and ideas
written in english, that previously needed to be translated from various
russian journals and books. This is especially so with the Temnospondyl,
early Archosaur and Synapsid chapters.

Perhaps the biggest problem is the lack of critical review in some
chapters. Most notably in the non-temnosapondyl amphibian chapter.
Eleven species of the frog genus Gobiates are
presented (filling two pages) without discussion of their diagnosis or
any discussion of their validity.


I could say more but I have to go now.

cheers

adam Yates