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Re: Psittacosaurid Revelations
Ronald Orenstein wrote
>I gathered from the original message that this was a
> reference to an artist's restoration, not a fossil.
May I point out that a psittacosaur with tail integument, is
shown in 2 independently published books.
Yes, "Extreme Dinosaurs" is a collection of artist
restorations, but Luis Rey has always been consistent with the latest research
in dinosaur palaeontology (remember that immediately after the publication of
the feathered dromaeosaur, earlier this year, he announced a breathtaking
restoration, still available at his website).
"Dinosaurs of the Isle Wight" is a very serious study of the
Wealden dinosaur fauna, and also aims to incorporate the latest views on
dinosaur classification. Martill and Naish sure saw good reason to change the
existing image of psittacosaurs, when they included it into their ceratopian
cladogram.
All (more or less popular) scientific books, that have been
published in recent years, show a real tendency towards incorporating unreleased
(but apparently new and reliable) information. The idea is probably to remain as
up-to-date as possible, even when the book is read years after its
publication.
The fact that an identical psittacosaur image is shown in two
independently published books, which aim at 2 totally different types of
dinosaur-enthousiasts, strengthens its case.
In my original message, I already wrote
> Since this new image of psittacosaurs has now been
published in at least two books,
> I couldn't resist to share these thoughts with you. It
appears that several workers will
> soon publish on this discovery.
This meant (with less diplomacy involved) : I am not violating
any embargoes, since the image is shown in 2 books that are published in large
numbers and so the information is accessible for everyone. I also wanted to
stress that we should be aware of the implications of this changing view of
psittacosaurs, and can discuss our views on the matter, but we should not
(yet) try to hunt down actual specimens that support this view, this would
really jeopardize the efforts of the people that are working on it, and they
will probably soon formally publish on it.
Regards,
Gunter Van Acker
or