Re: Tenontosaurus with Head

["Jonathan R. Wagner" <znc14@TTACS.TTU.EDU>]

On Thu, 1 Mar 2001 16:16:01 EST, Brian Buck wrote:

>If this is so, then what's the deal with the Tenontosaurus specimen here in 
>Philly at the Academy of Natural Sciences? How did they reconstruct the head? 
>Did they base it on another dino? Thanks to whoever responds.

        Ok, there are plenty of Tenontosaurus specimens (well, there are
never "plenty" of any dinosaur, but...), some have preserved skulls. All of
these skulls are in a poorly state, even the complete ones. This is very
common, almost every ornithopod skull is found slightly distorted (making
most hadrosaur skull restorations a little suspect). I recently examined
photographs of the type (and best preserved) skull of T. tilleti, and
decided that I would reconstruct the skull of this animal somewhat
differently than the oft-reproduced standard reconstruction (although I can
see very well why it has been restored as it has). I was awaiting a chance
to go see the specimen in person to be sure, but now I suppose I'll just sit
and wait patiently for the OMNH folks to finish their work.
        Prediction: think Camptosaurus-like, more like RCI reconstructions
of the "T. dossi" type skull.

        Wagner

                              
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     Jonathan R. Wagner, Dept. of Geosciences, TTU, Lubbock, TX 79409-1053
  "Why do I sense we've picked up another pathetic lifeform?" - Obi-Wan Kenobi