Re: CERATOPSIAN/APPALACIAN FAUNA

[Gothgrrl@aol.com]

tocabear@worldnet.att.net wrote:

>While reviewing an article in Miss. Geology (1982) by Ken >Carpenter, on
Cretaceous dinosaur fauna in the Appalacian >region (MS and AL), he mentions
that he found it strange the >no ceratopsian remains have as yet been found.
The only >reference I was able to find was a Maryland find in 1990 by >Kranz.
The fossil was a tooth thought to represent juvenile >tenontosaur. Any one of
any ceratopsian finds in Ms and/or >Al?

To date, there are no ceratopsians known from Alabama or Mississppi (or any
where else that would have been on the eastern side of the epicontinental
sea). Fragmentary dinosaur remains are fairly common from Campanian and
Maastrichtain formations in both states, but rarely consist of more than an
isolated bone (most finds have come from the Tombigbee Fm., the Mooreville
Chalk, the Ripley Fm., and the Blufftown Fm.), usually from hadrosaurs. But
no, no ceratopsians.

Caitlin R. Kiernan