SANTANA THEROPOD

[darren.naish@port.ac.uk]

On Tuesday 5th August one of our most esteemed daily newspapers, 
_The Sun_, published the article 'Tyrannosaurus pecks'. Apparently, 
new finds show that _Giganotosaurus_ was a 45ft, 9-ton chicken, with 
feathers, a cockerel-style crest, and a fearsome cluck. Methinks they 
got muddled over the unveiling of a dromornithid model in Sydney 
(they even figure a small [labelled!!!] picture of _Bullockornis 
planei_) and a _Giganotosaurus_ story. A very fetching picture of a 
green feathered _Giganotosaurus_ accompanies the article.

Apologies if I owe you an email - we are up to our eyes in it here with 
the preparation for the SVPCA meeting at the end of the month. Lots 
of dinosaur talks as well as giant ichthyosaurs, plesiosaur skulls, 
azhdarchid mechanics, pelagornithids and much more. I will advertise 
the schedule when I have time but go to www.svpca.org to see the 
submitted talk and poster titles.

Yes, the small Brazilian theropod in the newest _Can. J. Earth Sci._ is 
SMNK 2349 PAL: the South American (possible) compsognathid 
mentioned on this list before. It does have a manuscript name, though I 
can't say more about this: part of a current project. As Tom notes, the 
specimen is crucial in preserving a post-pubic vacuity that most 
probably was an air sac. For reasons that are beyond me, this has now 
been prepped away. Bizarrely, the specimen is asymmetrical - check 
out the paper for the details. Finally, there is no comparison with 
_Santanaraptor_ for the obvious reason that this critter hadn't been 
published while the CJES paper was in review (let alone at the time 
when it was submitted).

DARREN NAISH 
PALAEOBIOLOGY RESEARCH GROUP
School of Earth, Environmental & Physical Sciences
UNIVERSITY OF PORTSMOUTH
Burnaby Building
Burnaby Road                           email: darren.naish@port.ac.uk
Portsmouth UK                          tel: 01703 446718
P01 3QL