Re: malawisaurus

["Mickey_Mortimer11" <Mickey_Mortimer11@email.msn.com>]

Ken Kinman wrote-

>      The known skull material of Malawisaurus is apparently very
fragmentary
> (lower jaw and part of upper jaw and some teeth).
>      The more complete skull of Nemegtosaurus should be very similar (a
> google search turns up a nice restoration of the skull).  So I would think
> the silhouettes of Nemegtosaurus and Malawisaurus would probably be almost
> indistinguishable.

Ahhh! No! Nemegtosaurus and Malawisaurus have completely different skulls.
The premaxilla of Malawisaurus shows it had an extremely short rounded
snout, like a stubby camarasaur without the step above the muzzle.  In
addition, the external naris of Malawisaurus was rather anteriorly placed,
completely unlike the diplodocoid-like nares of Nemegtosaurus.  And it had
long rows of semi-spatulate teeth, not a small number of anteriorly placed
peg-like teeth.

Mickey Mortimer