fate of commercially collected specimens, was (RE: Giant caenagna thid pix)

[GUNTER.VANACKER@ELECTRABEL.COM]

Nick Pharris wrote:

> >  http://www.trieboldpaleontology.com/casts/oviraptor.htm
>
> Is this thing going to be described any time in the foreseeable future?

and

Ralph W. Miller III wrote :

> This specimen is still up for sale, so its ultimate fate is unknown.  


The same applies to the pachycephalosaur specimen, also owned by Triebold
Paleontology. This is without doubt the most complete pachycephalosaur ever
found (including complete skull and most of the postcranial skeleton). The
current owner seems to be uncertain about its identity, it has been
announced as Stygimoloch spinifer or Pachycephalosaurus wyomingensis.
Thorough study may reveal that S. spinifer is a junior synonym of the
latter, and that an adult P. wyomingensis attained a more modest size of 3
to 4m (10 to 13ft), instead of the often quoted 5 to 8m (17 to 26ft).

I wonder whether the skull of the caenagnathid cast skeleton is based on
good associated remains,  or only reconstructed based on comparisons with
Mongolian oviraptorids. If the former possibility is applicable, this means
that North American caenagnathids looked more like Asian "Rinchenia"-grade
oviraptorids, instead of Asian Ingenia-grade oviraptorids.



Regards,

Gunter Van Acker


GunterVanAcker.mesozoic@pi.be
or
Gunter.VanAcker@Electrabel.be