SYNAPSID SKIN

[darren.naish@port.ac.uk]

Nick Pharris wrote..

> The only non-mammalian synapsid skin impressions I am aware of   
> were, I think, from a dinocephalian and showed a glandular skin       
> without hair or scales.

There is a Carroll paper from way back that figures skin impressions 
from a basal pelycosaur-grade synapsid - and it shows scales. Can't 
remember the genus or the reference but it's been covered on DML 
before.

On another note, does anyone know if the issue of _Dinonews_ with 
my second _Baryonyx_ article is out yet? And another aside - the 
'winged creatures' referred to by Luis in his 'phantom menace' post are 
those bipedal duckbilled creatures ridden by the gungans. I don't know 
their name, but they are apparently flightless birds, hence the pair of 
giant feathers they have growing from their backs. Hey, I think 
_Longisquama_ is the phantom menace:)

"In their books monsters appear for the first time since Shakespeare's 
death" - - Costello, 1974

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