Re: Dilophosaurus Exhibit on th

[Stan Friesen <swf@ElSegundoCA.NCR.COM>]

 > Dilophosaurus having an opposable thumb. To my knowledge, the only theropods
 > with opposable digits are troodontids and possibly ornithomimosaurs (other
 > small theropods maybe?). Any one care to comment on this? Tom? Tony? Stan?
 > Anybody?

This gets into issues of terminology.   With only three ofingers
on each hand, do theropods even *have* thumbs?  (Or, put another
way, what constitutes a thumb?)

However, various sorts of grasping hands are fairly widespread
in the advanced coeulurosaurs (aka maniraptorans).  Now, just
which ones have something that could be called an "opposable
thumb" is harder to say, not only because of the issue of
definitions, but also because complete hands are about the
rarest part of any type of dinosaur.  That is, we have only
fragmentary knowledge of the hands of most coelurosaurs.

swf@elsegundoca.ncr.com         sarima@netcom.com

The peace of God be with you.