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Russian Hadrosauroid



Both George Mirantev[1] and Ben Creisler[2], independantly, reported on
this paper, the citation for which is

  Archangelsky, M.A. & Averianov, A.O. 2003. On the find of a primitive
hadrosauroid dinosaur (Ornithischia, Hadrosauroidea) in the Cretaceous of
the Belgorod region. _Paleonotological Journal_ 37 (1): 58-61.

  Because this journal is listed as a translation and not an original
citation premise, the original article should, as is suggested, be cited
in place of the English edition, and for all taxonomic purposes. The title
translates roughly as "O nakhodki pyervobytniy gadrozavroyd dinozavry
(Ornithischia, Hadrosauroidea) po Byelgorodka kraya v myel" and journal is
the _Palyeonologichyeskii Zhurnal_ 2003 (1): 60-63.

  The material described includes a tooth (ZIN PH 1/30) and a posterior
cervical (SGU 104a/33). The tooth is purportedly from the maxilla, based
on a centrally-placed labial carina, which bears enamel and, on one edge,
minute denticles that are primarily on the labial surface and do not
progress to either the mesial or distal edge. The enamel is missing from
the carina itself. The crown curved lingually, and the lingual face
preserves two fossae and a slight, inset keel. There is a depression on
one edge of the crown, mesial or distal, which corresponds to the position
of an adjoining crown. It is not possibile to determine the crowns
position within the ?maxilla, or which side it was on.

  The paper details the vertebra as a possible element in the
cervicodorsal transition, with parapophyses on the centrum, and the
remnants of the neural arch are not terribly restricted craniocaudally.
The centrum is "heart-shaped" on both faces, and is distinctly
opisthocoelous. The floor of the neural canal is nearly flat with slightly
sloping sides.

  The authors describe the basal hadrosauroid nature of the bones by the
absence of either derived features of iguanodontoids (sensu stricto) and
hadrosauroids, perceiving as I do an essential dichotomy rather than the
gradualistic, "stepping stone" arrangement recently acquired by You,
Norman, and others. They caution that, although an attribution to
Iguanodontoidea (sensu stricto) is not out of the question, the available
material cannot be described further in a phylogenetic context. They,
fortunately, do not name the material, although the tooth is somewhat
distinct and resembles material attributed to *Gilmoreosaurus* (*"G."
atavus*[3])

1)  http://www.cmnh.org/dinoarch/2003Feb/msg00296.html
2)  http://www.cmnh.org/dinoarch/2003Feb/msg00343.html
3) Nessov, L.A. 1995. _Dinozavri Syevyernoy Evrasiy: Novyye dannye o
   sostavye komplyeksov, ekologii i palyeobiogyeographii_.
   [Sank-Petersburg, Gostav University (St. Petersburg)]

=====
Jaime A. Headden

  Little steps are often the hardest to take.  We are too used to making leaps 
in the face of adversity, that a simple skip is so hard to do.  We should all 
learn to walk soft, walk small, see the world around us rather than zoom by it.

"Innocent, unbiased observation is a myth." --- P.B. Medawar (1969)

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