Re: Megaraptor

["T. Mike Keesey" <tkeese1@gl.umbc.edu>]

On Tue, 25 Nov 1997, Jaime Headden wrote:

> But anyway, "*Megaraptor*" having a 37cm (15 inches, without the keratin 
> sheath, which would make almost 2 feet long) would make a 25ft+ raptor 
> (given the benefit of the doubt, for I am ever optimistic) or a 30 ft 
> (maybe) theropod of another type. And then there's *Noasaurus*, a 
> raptor-like ornitholestoid from Argentina; as I've never seen the claw 
> in question -- what if?

_Noasaurus_ was an abelisauroid ceratosaur, not an ornitholestoid. IIRC,
its "killer claw" is morphologically quite distinct from those of the
coelurosaur groups with "killer claws", troodontids and basal
paravians/eumaniraptors (including dromaeosaurids).

It'd be interesting if there was some kind of "noasaur vs. dromaeosaur"
thing going on in the Cretaceous of South America -- if only we had more
noasaur fossils.

--T. Mike Keesey
tkeese1@gl.umbc.edu
http://umbc.edu/~tkeese1 -- Dinosaur Web Pages