Re: Nqwebasaurus, an African ornithomimosaur

[tyazbeck@comcast.net]

If only the name was pronounceable to us civilization-slickers...Nqwebasaurus 
makes all those Chinese dinosaurs' names seem like a high school Spanish 
exercise.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Brad McFeeters" <archosauromorph2@hotmail.com>
To: dinosaur@usc.edu
Sent: Friday, June 15, 2012 1:32:38 PM
Subject: RE: Nqwebasaurus, an African ornithomimosaur


This is a nice demonstration of the natural law which states that every wrong 
idea about dinosaurs will be eventually vindicated in a slightly modified form, 
with *Nqwebasaurus* being the African basalmost ornithomimosaur that we once 
thought *Elaphrosaurus* was.  ;)


> ----------------------------------------
> > Date: Fri, 15 Jun 2012 08:18:22 -0700
> > From: bcreisler@gmail.com
> > To: dinosaur@usc.edu
> > Subject: Nqwebasaurus, an African ornithomimosaur
> >
> > From: Ben Creisler
> > bcreisler@gmail.com
> >
> >
> > A new online paper:
> >
> > Jonah N. Choiniere, Catherine A. Forster & William J. de Klerk (2012)
> > New information on Nqwebasaurus thwazi, a coelurosaurian theropod from
> > the Early Cretaceous (Hauteriverian?) Kirkwood Formation in South
> > Africa.
> > Journal of African Earth Sciences (advance online publication)
> > http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2012.05.005
> > http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1464343X12001082?v=s5
> >
> >
> > We performed additional preparation on the holotype skeleton of
> > Nqwebasaurus thwazi and discovered new skeletal material from the
> > holotype. We describe this material, which includes a maxilla with
> > small, conical, unserrated teeth as well as bones of the braincase, as
> > well as parts of the holotype postcranial anatomy that were previously
> > poorly documented. We incorporate this new anatomical information into
> > a broadly sampled matrix designed to test theropod relationships. Our
> > phylogenetic results hypothesize that Nqwebasaurus is the basalmost
> > ornithomimosaur, and recover numerous characters supporting this
> > relationship, including features of the maxilla, frontal, dentition,
> > axial skeleton, forelimb and hindlimb. Nqwebasaurus is the first
> > African ornithomimosaur and the first Gondwanan member of this group
> > known from articulated skeletal material, supporting the hypothesis
> > that coelurosaurian groups were cosmopolitan during their early
> > evolutionary history. The presence of reduced dentition and a gastric
> > mill in Nqwebasaurus strongly suggest that this taxon was herbivorous.
>