IRRITATOR AND ANGATURAMA

[Tetanurae@aol.com]

George Olshevsky wrote:
<<Considering that the holotype of Irritator challengeri is in a German museum
 and the holotype of Angaturama limai is in a Sao Paulo museum, it is
 incredibly unlikely that they're from the same individual. But stranger
things
 have happened. Don't have my references handy, but I think there may be
enough
 overlap in the specimens to preclude their coming from the same individual.
 (Would be good if someone could check this...)>>

Doesn't matter if the holotypes are sitting in different museums in different
countries, they are both from the same formation, and I believe sold to rival
paleontologists by private collectors.  Angaturama is known from a snout, and
Irritator is known from a snout-less head (which, remember, has been altered
by putty filler), so it IS possible that they did come from the same animal.

That being said, Angaturama has a sagital crest that goes to the very tip of
the snout, and as far as I know, Irritator's sagital crest is all behind its
eyes.  The strong possibilty exists that it was incompletely preserved
however, as the skull was really damaged, so maybe the crest DID go to the tip
of the snout.

This would all be solved of course, with a transatlantic flight, but.....

Peter Buchholz
Tetanurae@aol.com