Re: DINO HUNT

[sj@io.com (Steve Jackson)]

Coming down to the wire here. Only a few holes left to fill, and only
one is a dinosaur - dealing with these aquatic reptiles is maddening
by comparison. Can anyone help me deal with:

HERRERASAURUS. Based on femur and tibia/fibula measurements in THE
        DINOSAURIA, I estimate its height at the hip at around a
        meter. Anyone have better data, or any idea how high above the
        ground it carried its head?

TANYSTROPHEUS. I have two references that make it a 3-meter creature
    with 10 neck vertebrae, and one personal communication that makes
    it a 10-meter creature with 29 neck vertebrae. I might conclude
    that my correspondent is simply confusing it with a plesiosaur of
    some kind . . . any hints?

TYLOSAURUS - Any North American locations outside Kansas?
        And what on earth is the derivation of the name? The tylo- in
        TYLOCEPHALE comes from the Greek for "swelling" - TYLOCEPHALE
        is just "swollen head" - is TYLOSAURUS a swollen lizard?

MOSASAURUS - Why is it so hard to find a writeup on what I thought was
        a well-known creature? I have come up blank on meaning of the
        name (I seem to remember "Muese lizard," but am not sure, AND
        on localities found, AND on size and weight. Why on earth does
        every discussion of mosasaurs that I find omit Mosasaurus, or
        at least scamp on the facts?

(By the way, I ordered THE DINOSAUR ENCYCLOPEDIA from Graeme Worth. It
        arrived today. I dived into it. I'm happy. Thanks, Graeme -
        hope you sell a lot. Even if your Mosasaurus listing DOES omit
        provenance :-) A suggestion: you should put your name and the
        year of release on the disk labels and documentation, for
        bibliographers. There are more assorted "Dinosaur
        Encyclopedias" on my shelf than you can shake a stick at.)

And George Olshevsky makes my mouth water with his description of
Folio #2, in which 3 of the 4 creatures described are new species that
I had fun (grrrr) researching. I bet it comes out a week after I go to
press, what do you bet?

 Steve Jackson - yes, of SJ Games - yes, we won the Secret Service case
Learn Web or die - http://www.io.com/sjgames/ - dinosaurs, Lego, Kahlua!
          The heck with PGP keys; finger for Geek Code. Fnord.