Re: REALLY good introduction to cladistics!!

[chris brochu <cbrochu@blue.weeg.uiowa.edu>]

>  > Can you really call that a third digit on T. rex's 'hand'?
>
> HP Brochu posted just earlier today:
>
> "To my knowledge, the third manal metacarpal has never shown up in T.
> rex - though some of the material  collected last year may correct
> that.  It's known in other tyrannosaurids, though.  [sic]"
>
> So then what specimen did they use for the T. rex's third "finger"?


I saw the element in  specimens of several (well, 3) tyrannosaurid 
taxa, and it was similar (and rather simple) in all  - so  we based 
the third metacarpal in the Sue mount on those.  Very little is/will 
be said about it in the Sue description.  We don't really KNOW that 
Sue had this element, but it's  reasonable to hypothesize it.
--
------------------------
Christopher A. Brochu
Assistant Professor
Department of Geoscience
University of Iowa
Iowa City, IA 52242

christopher-brochu@uiowa.edu
319-353-1808 phone
319-335-1821 fax

www.geology.uiowa.edu/faculty/brochu