Re: Information on Pelecanimimus

[Dinogeorge@aol.com]

In a message dated 97-06-19 06:04:39 EDT, jwoolf@erinet.com (Jonathon Woolf)
writes:

<< What *exactly* is _Longisquama_?  Where and when was it found?  What
 formation, what age?  What material do we have from it?  Skull, legs,
 pectorals, pelvis, ribs, skin impressions, what?  What percentage of the
 whole thing do we have?  Any articulation?  What are the chances that
 we're talking about a chimaera or a case of misidentified pieces, as in
 when _Allosaurus_ furculae were identified as gastralia? >>

No chance of a chimera; the type specimen is a single animal squashed flat
into a slab. Only forequarters are known, from skull to about mid-thorax,
including complete shoulder girdle and forelimb. Here are two references you
can check:

Sharov, A. G., 1970. "Svoyeobraznaya reptiliya iz Nizhnevo Triasa Fergany [An
unusual reptile from the Lower Triassic of Fergana]," Paleontologicheskiy
Zhurnal 1970(1): 127–130 [in Russian; English translation in Paleontological
Journal 1970(1): 112–116].

Haubold, H. & Buffetaut, E., 1987. "Une novelle interprétation de Longisquama
insignis, reptile énigmatique du Trias supérieur d'Asie centrale [A new
interpretation of Longisquama insignis, an enigmatic reptile from the Upper
Triassic of Central Asia]," Comptes Rendus Académie des Sciences du Paris
305, Série II: 65–70.

Take the sprawling stance depicted in these references with a grain of salt,
since we do not know the hindquarters at all. I suspect the hindquarters,
when found, will be quite dinosaurian (erect stance, possibly even long
enough for bipedality).