SUPRASCAPULA IN DINOSAURS

[Tetanurae@aol.com]

The suprascapula is not the correcoid, but instead a normally cartelagenous 
extension of the distal end of the scapula.  As far as I know the only 
dinosaur to have an ossified suprascapula is the Late Cretaceous 
ornithischian _Parksosaurus warrenae_, and it is only partially ossified, and 
in fact a seperate element.

One way to test to see if this is also in some titanosaurs is to look at the 
distal end of the scapulae.  If the end in question is kinda pointy rather 
than squared off, and the bone texture is "gnarled" like ossified cartilage, 
it's probably an ossified suprascapula.

Peter Buchholz
Tetanurae@aol.com