Re: FISHY SPINOSAURS

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

Jonathan Wagner wrote:

>>The material in question is a GIGANTIC partial skull shown by Angela Milner
>>at the 1996 SVP meeting.
>
>        For those of us wtill feeling sorry for ourselves because we
>couldn't go to SVP (anyone who knows where '97 is, please e-mail me
>personally),

Well, it is general enough information that lots of people might want to know:

1997 - Chicago
1998 - Snowbird, Utah
1999 - Denver
2000 - Mexico City (I may have the last two backwards).

> would you (Dr. Holtz) kindly repeat your earlier courtesy and
>elaborate on the specimen shown by Milner, if this is at all possible?

Sure.  I guess that would be okay.

There is a lot of spinosaurid material showing up in northern Africa.  Some
of it is in scientific collections; other material is in private hands.
Milner showed a slide of an incredibly huge snout (palatal view) of a
long-nosed form (Spinosaurus itself, perhaps), and noted that this
particular specimen is in a private collection somewhere.

>>Unfortunately, it is in private hands, so they couldn't get more details
>>on it.
>
>        This sounds like a job for the...
>        CLADISITIC ASSASSIN!

Now, don't go hurting anybody!

>>A monster: twice Baryonyx's size or so.
>
>        Ummm... do you suppose it's time for all of us to rub
>_Giganotosaurus_ off the number one spot in the Top Ten Heaviest Terrestrial
>Carnivores of all Time list?  Calvinosaurus Wattersoni indeed!

Well, Giganotosaurus is still GIGANTIC, and is the largest theropod for
which we have a reasonable amount of material.  Until we know more about the
anatomy of the big Spinosaurus, it will be difficult to estimate its mass.

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" :-)