SPEAKING OF WOEFULLY INADEQUITE....

[Tetanurae@aol.com]

I was inspired to try to add _Yandusaurus hongheensis_ to my still somewhat 
small, but growing character matrix because Mickey Mortimer seemed to have 
some luck with it.  With 18 taxa, and 43 characters, 36 trees were produced.  
Unfortunately, this seems to be another _Thescelosaurus_, as it's mostly 
question marks (26 of 43 characters.. that's 60.4%), and jumps around the 
ornithischian tree where-ever it seem to want to go, with no rhyme or reason.

What seems apparent though is that it doesn't like to clade with 
_"Yandusaurus" multidens_, and that it is some sort of ornithopod.  The 
closest it would come to _"Y" multidens_ is the outgroup to ((_"Y" multidens_ 
, _Othnielia_) , (_Zephyrosaurus_ , _Orodromeus_)).  Most other times though, 
it was the outgroup to Hypsilophodon + Iguanodontia, or the outgroup to 
"Othnieliidae" + Euornithopoda.

In any case, I think that this further supports the assertion of Peng that 
_"Y" multidens_ doesn't belong in the genus _Yandusaurus_, but then again it 
doesn't support his assertion that it belongs in the genus _Agilisaurus_, 
since _Agilisaurus_ and _"Y" multidens_ never form an esclusive group.

There are quite a few differences in the facial bone morphology, as well as 
the morphology of the teeth in all thre taxa, that a new genus for _"Y" 
multidens_ is more than warrented.  Paul Barrett and David Norman have had a 
new generic name "in press" since 1996, so hopefully we'll have some new data 
on these early Late Jurassic ornithischians.

Pete Buchholz
Tetanurae@aol.com