Re: FISHY SPINOSAURS

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

Darren Naish wrote:

>Esteemed list member Dr. Thomas Holtz says.. (in responding to an earlier post
>on _Spinosaurus_ snouts)...
>
>> I hope that they finally track that specimen down.  It is wonderful, and
>> another great addition to the Theropod Hall of Fame.
>
>Why do you say 'track that specimen down'? Has it been lost or something? 
>
>I haven't seen the paper yet - how much provenance data was Russell able to get
>on the new spinosaur? I've been led to believe it smacks of a situation rather
>like the one surrounding that stupid blue mineral everyone loves so much.

Russell's spinosaur is doing fine, but has no head.

The material in question is a GIGANTIC partial skull shown by Angela Milner
at the 1996 SVP meeting.  Unfortunately, it is in private hands, so they
couldn't get more details on it.

A monster: twice Baryonyx's size or so.

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

"There are some who call me...  Tim."
-- Tim the Enchanter, "Monty Python and the Holy Grail"
---------- subtitle --[Monty Python ik den Holy Grailen]

"Tim?!?  They called me TIM?!?!"
-- Tom the Paleontologist, on seeing "The Ultimate Guide to T. rex" :-)