RE: OLD ORNITHOMIMOSAURS

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

> From: owner-dinosaur@usc.edu [mailto:owner-dinosaur@usc.edu]On Behalf Of
> David Marjanovic
>
> I didn't know that one, but doesn't
>     James O. Farlow & Michael K. Brett-Surman: The Complete Dinosaur,
> Indiana
>     University 1997
> mention ornithomimosaurian teeth [sic] from the Late Jurassic of Utah?
> Considering troodontids and tyrannosauroids being around in the Middle
> Jurassic, the surprise isn't that big.

Well, we honestly don't have any confirmed tyrannosauroids from the Middle
Jurassic (that is, nothing which has been demonstrated as closer to
tyrannosaurids than to all other named clades of theropod), and the
troodontid teeth are just teeth.

>         Sad to say, but Shuvosaurus really is the senior synonym for
> Chatterjeea and thus an odd ?rauisuchian. No Triassic ornithomimosaur.

Well, I agree that it isn't a Triassic ornithomimosaur, but Oliver Rauhut
has offered another alternative: that _Shuvosaurus_ is a specialized basal
theropod.

                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
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