Re: layperson

[Dinogeorge@aol.com]

In a message dated 97-08-24 08:18:48 EDT, jwoolf@erinet.com (Jonathon Woolf)
writes:

<< <chuckle>  I've always thought that the skull was supposed to be the
 most distinctive thing about any vertebrate species.  If _Diplodocus_
 and _Apatosaurus_ have such nearly identical skulls, is it possible that
 they're actually the same genus? >>

Postcranially they're substantially different. It's a counterexample to my
observation that the skull (usually) varies more than postcrania among
closely related dinosaur genera (e.g., hadrosaurids, lambeosaurids,
ceratopians, many theropods). It would really be cute if, all along,
_Apatosaurus_ were the male or female and _Diplodocus_ the female or male,
but I think the postcranial differences are too great for this to be the
case. Still, you never know...