Confusion over classification of dinosaurs

[Berislav Krzic <illustrissimus@usa.net>]

       Robert Townsend posted several questions on my message board, but I've
got no time to reply them:

  Confusion over classification of dinosaurs.
  Monday, 29-Nov-1999 15:09:48

       Message:
       212.121.3.34 writes:

       1. World famous palaeontologist Robert T. Bakker recently discovered a
new 'miniature' version of Tyrannosaurus
       Rex and named it Nannotyrannus, meaning 'little tyrant'. How does he
and other palaeontologists know this is a
       completely new genus and species and NOT just a juvenile or
'half-grown' T. Rex?

       2. Is the English dinosaur Baryonix Walkerii, with a head similar to
the giant Suchomimus Tenerensis, just a
       Spinosaurid without a sail, or is it still classified as a
Baryonichid?

       3. Is Yangchuanosaurus the Chinese eqivalent of the North American
Allosaurus or Ceratosaurus, I have conflicting
       information on this?

       4. Were there any known sauropods that survived right up until the end
of the cretaceous?

       5. In the last century, Edward Drinker Cope discovered a meat eating
dinosaur which he named 'Laelaps'. It is now
       known as Dryptosaurus, the 'wounding reptile'. It has two fingers on
each hand and looks for all the world like a
       member of the Tyrannosaurid family. So why isn't it classified as
such?

       6. Why do there seem to have been no large ceratopsians on any other
continent besides North America?

       I hope someone with some expert knowledge can answer my questions.
Please e-mail me at: -

       Meteorwatcher@hotmail.com

       Thanks. 

       Robert Townsend of Stevenage, Herts, England.



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