LAMBEOSAUR CLASSIFICATION

[Tetanurae@aol.com]

Jeremy Frost wrote:
<<Bactrosaurus, IMHO, is much better known than Tsintaosaurus.
 Parasaurolophus should have its own family.>>

Yes, in your opinion....  Almost nothing is known of _Bactrosaurus_' skull,
which is really what is diagnostic about lambeosaurs past deciding if they
are lambeosaurs or hadrosaurs.  _Tsintaosaurus_ on the other hand has a
fairly good skull, and associated postcrania.  

<<I'm sorry if you disagree, but these stuffy lamebrained Ivy League types we
have classifying these animals don't know their butts from a hole in the
ground>>

This is absolutely unneeded.  If you can't offer constructive criticism
without offering unprovoked insults, I'll show you the door.

<<if they haven't figured out yet that they need to classify the said animals
by their CREST SHAPE.>>

This only really works on the small scale, like telling the difference
between _Hypacrosaurus stebingeri_ and _H. altispinus_.  Remember these
things were used for making the animals look sexy, so it is probable that two
closely related groups had strikingly different crest shapes.  Something that
I think is rather interesting is the possibility that _Parasaurolophus_ and
_Lambeosaurus_ are closely related, as they both share a greatly reduced
external nasal bone, compared to the giant nasal in _Corithosaurus_ and
_Hypacrosaurus_, which might represent the plesiomorphic state for advanced
lambeosaurs.

<<If that occurred, yes, there would be a Lambeosaurinae family, and
Tsintaosaurus and Lambeosaurus would all be in it (if there's more than one
species of each).>>

In my opinion also, there should be a lambeosaur family that is seperate from
the hadrosaur family.  I also think (I know, me, the heretic) that
_Hadrosaurus_ itself should be made a _nomen dubium_ and the hadrosaur family
should be renamed Edmontosauridae.

One more thing, _Lambeosaurus_ should be said "LAM-o-saurus" since Lawrence
Lambe almost certainly said his name like "LAM" and not "LAM-bee".  This
extends to Lambeosauridae - "LAM-o-saur-i-die", and lambeosaur -
"LAM-o-saur".

Peter Buchholz
Tetanurae@aol.com

"Kissing . . . is a goodness,"  he explained.  "It sure beats the hell out of
card games."