More about dromaeosaurs (was RE: Ichabod Crane (a few related questions) & Whereismyheadasaurus ...)

["Thomas R. Holtz, Jr." <tholtz@geol.umd.edu>]

> From: owner-dinosaur@usc.edu [mailto:owner-dinosaur@usc.edu]On Behalf Of
> SCHMIDT
>
> I know we should be patient

Yes.

> but I've been hearing about all these unnamed
> dromeaosaurs for so long and it seems like they'll never be named...
>
> It may not be the most authoritive work but "Raptor's the Nastiest
> Dinosaurs" (why oh why weren't they restored with feathers?)
> makes reference
> to a skeleton from Mongolia that was dug up before 1989.  Suposedly this
> skeleton is nearly complete and twenty feet long.  Why would such an
> incredible find not be top priority for scientists?

> Its been six years
> since I read this book and I still don't know what has become of this
> creature, none of the described forms seem to match it.

Perspective, here, please.  _Scelidosaurus_, a dinosaur vastly more imporant
for understanding dinosaur anatomy & evolution than yet another dromaeosaur
(can't believe I just wrote that, even though it's true...), went about a
century and a half between initial description and a published detailed
osteology.  Although that is an extreme, both _Ceratosaurus_ and
_Allosaurus_ (discovered and named in the 1870s) were not described in a
useful fashion until 1920.  More recently _Sinosauropteryx_ had five years
between initial naming and first useful anatomical description.

However, fear not: I think that _Achillobator_ may be the taxon in question,
anyway, so it has been described.  (I know it isn't "nearly complete", but
reports in children's books are not always based on the most accurate
information).

>From: owner-dinosaur@usc.edu [mailto:owner-dinosaur@usc.edu]On Behalf Of
Chris Collinson
>
>Ok, I'm confused, Ichabodcraniosaurus, no skull. That would just make plain
sense, but the
>pic Mickey sent me is the skull. Am I missing something? I'm assuming it's
just a
>Velociraptor then, right?
>
>Extreamly Confused!!!

A) The skull has subsequently been found.
B) The animal is almost certainly _Velociraptor_, but the study of the
little critter is not over.

                Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
                Vertebrate Paleontologist
Department of Geology           Director, Earth, Life & Time Program
University of Maryland          College Park Scholars
                College Park, MD  20742
http://www.geol.umd.edu/~tholtz/tholtz.htm
http://www.geol.umd.edu/~jmerck/eltsite
Phone:  301-405-4084    Email:  tholtz@geol.umd.edu
Fax (Geol):  301-314-9661       Fax (CPS-ELT): 301-405-0796