Re: New Ref

["Ken Kinman" <kinman@hotmail.com>]

    Randy, thanks for bringing this article to our attention.  I'm sure M. 
Mortimer will be surprised to see this paper published in the new Journal of 
C.R.A.P.    But I hope his upcoming analysis appears in something a little 
more prestigious.  ;-)
    I can't for the life of me imagine where the generic name came from, 
but the specific name "colonae" is interesting.  This is the Latin term 
meaning "tenant farmers".  Could it be that some theropods not only gave up 
meat-eating (like segnosaurs), but actually began practicing a form of 
agriculture.
    Could this explain the long wicked claws of segnosaurs?  They would 
certainly be useful for digging during planting season, guarding the fields 
during the growing season, and also for harvesting the crop as well.
    But if they were "tenant" farmers, who did they work for?  Perhaps 
tyrannosaurs were the Lords of the Manor, whose puny arms would be quite 
adequate for handling the master's whip.  The only question then would be 
what kind of "livestock" the crops were being fed to (perhaps "Cretaceous 
sheep"?).  In any case, neither scavenging or hunting would be required.  
Just a good recipe for "cera-chops" stew.
       ----- Cheers,  Ken
               01-Apr-02
P.S.  Hey it's April.  Maybe it will not be too much longer that we will 
have to W4MA.  Will "Alvarezsauria" and "enigmosauria" survive scrutiny.   
Time will tell.
                      :-)

*****************************************
R. Irmis wrote:
> Just found in my university's library:
>
> Mortimer, M. 2002. A new maniraptoran theropod from the sewers of New York,
> New York. Journal of Comparative Research And Phylogeny 1(1): 1-2.
>
> Published in the new Journal of C.R.A.P., this paper describes a new
> theropod dinosaur, *Kinmania colonae*, from the Early Cretaceous sewers of
> New York.  It is represented by a single caudal vertebra, but shows
> distinctive synapomorphies placing it within the Maniraptora.  It seems to
> be related to Capitalsaurus, it's more politically minded brother down
> south.  The phylogenetic analysis is based on characters from two
> unpublished dissertations and writing on a scrap of paper held by Tom Holtz
> in a grainy photograph taken last year at SVP.
>
> -In a response to this paper, an unnamed person has stated that since the
> genus name *Kinmania* does not accurately represent the specimen's true
> affinities, it should be changed to *Kinmaniformia*.
>
> Regards,
> Randall Irmis ;)



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