BABY TRICERATOPS

[darren.naish@port.ac.uk]

Regarding the juvenile _Triceratops_ specimen UCMP 15442, Betty 
asked..

> are there pictures published of this specimen anywheres?  Did they 
> give an aproximate age for the lil' guy?

Remember that Mark Goodwin has call on this specimen, so what is 
published on it is down to him and, as yet, nothing has been 
published on it except the conference abstract (AFAIK). To my 
knowledge no photos of it have been published. This will happen when 
the fossil is technically described, which again is down to Mark 
Goodwin.

Incidentally, a special _Proceedings_ volume will result from the 
Third European Conference on Vertebrate Palaeontology. At least some 
of the dinosaur-oriented subjects covered in the actual conference 
will get a proper write-up in that volume. It won't be out until 
August or later.

I do not recall an age for UCMP 15442 being mentioned, assuming that 
you mean age in terms of number of years/months the animal had lived 
before it died. The other meaning of age: the fossil is Maastrichtian 
of course.

And regarding an unidentified ?archosaur snout from the Jurassic of 
Thailand, recently discussed by Eric Buffetaut, Betty said..

> It seems likely that this won't be published till it's identified. 
> Do paleontologists have to go to Thailand if they want to see it?   
> What happens with it if it's never identified?  Back drawer 
> somewheres till some grad student wanders across it a hundred years 
> from now?

Again, Eric Buffetaut and his team have call on this. I know no more 
than that. If you are really, really interested ask Dr. Buffetaut 
himself. Also, keep in mind that this specimen is not really a 
special case: there are loads of problematical specimens like this 
the world over. They often do get described, and are not swept under 
some imaginary scientific carpet.

"By assuming less we discover more" 
  - - Alice, right before she begins to chase the rabbit.

DARREN NAISH
darren.naish@port.ac.uk