RE: the "Imperator"

["Thomas R. Holtz, Jr." <tholtz@geol.umd.edu>]

To make a long story short:
Absolutely nothing new has been published (in the tech literature OR in the
popular literature) on the specimen since you last were on the list.  As for
the size of the specimen in question: please review the dinosaur list
archives (at http://www.cmnh.org/fun/dinosaur-archive/index.html) and search
for keywords "Rigby", "rex", and/or "imperator" to find many postings on
that subject.

Also: this specimen has never been seriously called "imperator": PLEASE do
not refer to it as such!  Weird as it may seem, a lot of science reporters
get their information on forthcoming specimens via this list: if we are not
careful, some of these nicknames gain an (undeserved) life of their own.

Calling it the "Rigby rex" or something along those lines would be far more
accurate.

Hope this helps.

                Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
                Vertebrate Paleontologist
Department of Geology           Director, Earth, Life & Time Program
University of Maryland          College Park Scholars
                College Park, MD  20742
http://www.geol.umd.edu/~tholtz/tholtz.htm
http://www.geol.umd.edu/~jmerck/eltsite
Phone:  301-405-4084    Email:  tholtz@geol.umd.edu
Fax (Geol):  301-314-9661       Fax (CPS-ELT): 301-314-7843