EOTYRANNUS SKULL

[darren.naish@port.ac.uk]

On the skull of _Eotyrannus_, Michael Lovejoy asked... 
(firstly, sorry for the delay: I've been at the _Leedsichthys_ 
dig in Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire)...

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Problem is, using Fig.3, the left max. as preserved works 
out at approx. 189mm, but using Fig.7 the same bit works 
out at 267mm! Dunno if I'm doing something wrong, but I'd 
be very grateful if someone could please give me sizes for 
any of the preserved elements of Eotyrannus.
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A cock-up was made somewhere along the line, but right 
now I'm not sure when. In Fig. 7 the magnification for the 
maxilla (7D) is given as 'x 1', so it should be about lifesize - 
viz, preserved length along toothrow of 94 mm.

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(The nasal's 220mm, that's all I've got. Oh, and just to 
display my total ignorance, is the bit at the bottom of the 
page the part that contacts the lacrimals? )
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If you're referring to Fig. 4, then yes part of the rostral 
process of the lacrimal would have bordered the 
caudolateral edges of the nasals but exactly how they fit 
together is uncertain: there is a recess for the dorsal end of 
the lacrimal though. However the rostral process of the 
lacrimal does not project rostrally to fit into that odd lateral 
recess located mid-way along the sides of the nasals: that's 
something else. So far as I can remember, the main vertical 
bar of the lacrimal is straight, there is no lacrimal cornual 
process, horn or whatever, and the lacrimal's dorsal surface 
is not rugose. Of course for the whole story you'll have to 
wait for the monograph.. this'll appear some time around 
2025.

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So, Darren, you're not "defending the 'Valdoraptor' genre 
with terminal intensity", then? :)
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No, though I did think that Jar-Jar Binks made the ewoks 
looking like.... ****ing Shaft. It's been (insert number of 
months) since The Phantom Menace but it still hurts. And a 
particularly timely quote (in view of Rise of the Machines, 
premiering here tomorrow): 'Vieno tormente'. Funnily 
enough, I'm lending both series on DVD to a volcanologist 
tomorrow..

-- 
Darren Naish
School of Earth & Environmental Sciences
University of Portsmouth UK, PO1 3QL

email: darren.naish@port.ac.uk
tel: 023 92846045