Re: Suchomimus teeth (was WHAT I SAW TODAY AT.......)

["Thomas R. Holtz, Jr." <th81@umail.umd.edu>]

At 08:27 AM 11/24/98 -0800, you wrote:
>---GSP1954@aol.com wrote:
>
>> At the first is the temporary mounted Suchomimus 
>> skeleton. One big mama. 
>
>How about the teeth?  There's some offlist controversy about them.  Do
>they appear to be as "conical" as described in SCIENCE magazine?  Some
>say that they're "just plain old" theropod teeth being hyped as
>something they're not.
>
>Just curious to see what a real eyeballing observed....

If someone is telling you that they are "just plain old theropod teeth",
they are misinformed.

Spinosaurid teeth are much more oval in cross-section (mediolateral axis is
much wider compared to anteroposterior axis than in typical theropods).

The difference between baryonychine and spinosaurine teeth is that
spinosaurine teeth seem to be less curved, whereas baryonychines retain
something closer to the original theropod curvature in lateral view.  They
remain, however, much rounder in cross-section than allosaur or ceratosaur
or whatever teeth of the same height.

Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
Vertebrate Paleontologist     Webpage: http://www.geol.umd.edu
Dept. of Geology              Email:tholtz@geol.umd.edu
University of Maryland        Phone:301-405-4084
College Park, MD  20742       Fax:  301-314-9661