Re: On diagnosing _Tyrannosaurus_

[Dinogeorge@aol.com]

In a message dated 5/23/01 4:28:21 PM EST, rowe@psych.ucsb.edu writes 
(quoting Chris Brochu):

<< If you are correct about the current diagnosis for T. rex, one is left to
    wonder how anyone could conclude that Nanotyrannus or Aublysodon molnari
    are junior synonyms; after all, these are not themselves large
    tyrannosaurids.  I seem to  recall seeing several diagnostic features of 
T.
    rex while working on Sue.  I'll leave it for Tom Holtz to ennumerate 
them. >>

I didn't say Tyrannosaurus doesn't have a diagnosis; only that it doesn't yet 
have a reasonably current >published< one. Nobody seems to have collected 
together the diagnostic features of Tyrannosaurus in one place in print, 
where they can be referred to. I believe Tom Holtz has listed some of these 
features at his tyrannosaurid website, part of the Tree of Life project, and 
this is as close to a published paper as we have on the subject so far. The 
lack of a published diagnosis is one reason why Nanotyrannus, for example, 
has hung around as a separate genus for so long.