Re: Hypsilophodon (again) and new 'raptor'

["Mickey Mortimer" <Mickey_Mortimer111@msn.com>]

Simon M. Clabby wrote-

> And, just so there are no accusations of me being all
> take and no give, here is a report on a new, as yet
> unpublished dinosaur from the Isle of Wight.
>
> http://www.geocities.com/dinowight/otherdino.html#raptor

Ornithodesmus cluniculus was the first named Wessex dromaeosaur.  Jaime
defended this assignment quite well back in August-
http://www.cmnh.org/dinoarch/2003Aug/msg00177.html .  Indeed, it can be
added that Ornithodesmus has other characters present in cooelurosaurs, but
not coelophysoids or ceratosaurs, such as sacral pleurocoels, and a ventral
midline groove on the posterior sacral centra.
I'll yet again make the point that the traditional
dromaeosaurine-velociraptorine split is not well supported, as detailed
here- http://www.cmnh.org/dinoarch/2003May/msg00427.html .  We'll soon see
if the 'velociraptorine' Atrociraptor complicates this distribution.
Generally, teeth are assigned to the Velociraptorinae based on characters
primitive to dromaeosaurs, Nuthetes being a good example.  Indeed, Nuthetes
doesn't even appear to be a dromaeosaur at all, unless Richardoestesia is
too (which is possible).  See
http://www.cmnh.org/dinoarch/2003Jul/msg00333.html for more details.
Besides these taxa, there are teeth that resemble Sinornithosaurus and
Richardoestesia from the Middle Jurassic Chipping Norton Formation of
England (Metcalf et al., 1992).

Mickey Mortimer