Re: Troodon fingers,etc

["T. Mike Keesey" <tkeese1@gl.umbc.edu>]

On Sun, 11 Jul 1999, GOBI 2010 wrote:

> How many fingers did Troodon have (Is that it's "real" name now? Or is it 
> Stenonychus(excuse my spelling)???)???

The skeletal remains which _Stenonychosaurus inequalis_ was named for are
now thought to belong to the same creature as the teeth named _Troodon
formosus_. _Troodon_ is the older name, and thus has priority.

> I have several pictures in various dinosaur books- most show two ...or
> three fingers. Did it have two? Or three? or is the number unknown? 

Which book shows it with two fingers? It certainly does have three -- like
all other troodontids. I've never even heard of anyone reconstructing it
with two. The only debate over a theropod's finger count that I can think
of was _Compsognathus_ -- and that seems to have been settled in favor of
three.

> Also, does anyone have a diagram of a troodon skeleton I can see (side view, 
> black & white,yadda yadda yadda)?
[...]
> PS-Looking for good books on Carnivoirous dinosaurs,esp: troodon, 
> giganotosaurus

The answer to both questions is Predatory Dinosaurs of the World
(although it was published before the discovery of _Giganotosaurus_)

--T. Michael Keesey
tkeese1@gl.umbc.edu | THE DINOSAURICON: http://dinosaur.umbc.edu/
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