Re: New Velociraptorine

["Thomas R. Holtz, Jr." <th81@umail.umd.edu>]

Sam Girouard wrote:

>        Incedentally- the photos of the "fighting speciment" from Mongolia
>that I have seen show the feet of the Velociraptor a fair distance from the
>Protoceratops, but I would'nt trust this alone. Does the Protoceratops have
>any claw-slashed ribs? Just wondering. 

Having seen slides of the fully prepared specimen, this shows some really
interesting aspects of interspecific combat.  In particular, one of the
hindfeet (the left, if I remember correctly) is placed with the sickle-claw
in the neck of the Protoceratops, not the belly as previously thought!  Dave
Unwin spent a lot of time looking at this specimen, and could give you all
the appropriate details/facts.

Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
Vertebrate Paleontologist     Webpage: http://www.geol.umd.edu
Dept. of Geology              Email:th81@umail.umd.edu
University of Maryland        Phone:301-405-4084
College Park, MD  20742       Fax:  301-314-9661

"To trace that life in its manifold changes through past ages to the present
is a ... difficult task, but one from which modern science does not shrink.
In this wide field, every earnest effort will meet with some degree of
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will bring to light some law, in accordance with which ancient life has been
changed into life as we see it around us to-day."
        --O.C. Marsh, Vice Presidential Address, AAAS, August 30, 1877