Re: Megaraptor

["Jaime A. Headden" <qilongia@yahoo.com>]

Mike "Megaraptor" Hickman wrote:

<To all of you who have heard of Megaraptor
namunhuaiquii, has anyone thought that it could be an
allosaurid?>

  Based on the claw or the forelimb known, if this was
a carnosaur of any type, it was a highly derived one,
one such as the world would never see again. The claw
itself is shaped, not just the size, but in the flexor
knob and the lateral groove, as a claw similar to
troodonts and dromaeosaurs. It's a coelurosaur, a
large one, and only remotely related to carnies. But
it sure makes one think, don't it, Mike?

  Like Tom Holtz said, though, based on what material
it is, we're going to need to wait for more stuff on
this feller before we can find out exactly what it is.
Gurney's painting in _Nat. Geo._ not withstanding, you
can pretty much feather this baby, wing it, shorten
its tail, and voila! You'd probably not be far from
the truth. If you have access to Nature, find the
article by Novas and Puerta in 1994 on *Unenlagia* if
you can't get the info elsewhere (and ignore if you've
got it already) and try to composite the two
specimens, and you'd probably get the animal to rights
in general appearance. This was done for the 1998
article in _Nat. Geo._ on *Caudipteryx* and the other
Sihetun stuff.

  But, there's nothing to beat good ol' imagination
[in this field, as long as you don't stray too far
from the "known science" boundary] so let your mind
wander.

===
Jaime A. Headden

"May I lure us, ere the mote ends us?"

Qilong, the we---is temporarily out of service.
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