Re: Non-dinos of OZ and NZ

[bchoo@cyllene.uwa.edu.au (B. Choo)]

dannj@alphalink.com.au wrote:
>I'm feeling curious, so I've got a couple of questions that hopefully
>someone can help me with.
>
>On page 146 of "Dinos of OZ and New Zealand" is a photo of a Pliosaur
>simply captioned "New Queensland Pliosaurid". There seems to be no
>mention of it in the text. Does anyone know if it has been published
>or not? It seems remarkably complete (if it has not be restored).
>

This is a complete articulated pliosaur skeleton from Richmond, Queensland.
Its a pretty small animal (can't remember off the top of my head how big).
When I spoke to Arthur Cruickshank last year he mentioned (I think...) that
it was related to Leptocleidus but was almost certainly a new genus (for
one thing, has a much longer, more narrow snout than Leptocleidus). The
Richmond pliosaur is as far as I know still being studied.

>Has the Molnar and Thulborn "Australian Anhanguera" paper been
>published in the journal 'Palaeontology' yet?

Dunno

Or am I being far too
>optimistic (I'm still waiting for Qantassaurus after a year or so).

Join the club...what I'm really waiting for is a description of the big
(15cm when complete) pedal claw described on page 103. Can't say too much
about it (seen a cast - it does bear a striking resemblance to the claw of
another big early-K theropod) but the fact that this thing was in the
Victorian rift valley makes you wonder just what it was feeding on...it had
to be something there more substantial than hypsilophodontids!

Cheerio
Brian Choo