RE: New finds

[Silvio Renesto <renesto@mailserver.unimi.it>]

While I agree that Tracy is right in most cases, concerning press releases 
on vertpaleo, this time I think the reporter  is right .
During the field trip of the Symposium on Pterosaurs and other flying 
reptiles (held last September in Toulouse)  we visited the Esperaza - Aude 
museum and site and Dr.  Le Loeuff led us to a just discovered  "ampelosaur 
" skeleton which was partially cleared off from the rock.  In the (?)last 
issue of Dinopress there is a report by Fabio dalla Vecchia on the 
symposium and field trip with a photo of an ugly man (me)  pointing his 
index finger to the exposed bones of that sauropod. This latter (the 
sauropod) might be the one quoted in the report.
A little add on: surely you already know that Ampelosaurus means "the 
reptile of the vineyard" because the quarry is next to or inside a vineyard 
and the Aude locality is renowned also for production of good wine  (which 
we tasted in a perfect joining of paleontology and recreation!) .
Cheers

                                                Silvio Renesto

Tracy Ford wrote:

This is assuming the reporter got his story right, or knew what he was
writing about, like that can really happen (unless it's from Jeff Hecht!
That's different). The press that calls Mammoths dinosaurs, and doesn't know
that granite can't have footprints or skeletal elements. I hold the press
lower than ..., well, you can fill in the blank...

Steve Brusatte wrote:

> On Wed, 10 Jul 2002
> >Jean-Michel Benoit wrote:
> >
> >> * a new fairly complete skeletton of a sauropod (72 My old, about 12m
> >> long) found in the south of France (near Carcassonne). The reporter
> >> calld it "an empelosaur(?)"
>
> I would assume the reporter was indicating it was an "ampelosaur," and by 
> that meaning it can either be referred to _Ampelosaurus_ (or maybe even 
> the species _A. atacis_), or is a titanosaurid closely related to 
> _Ampelosaurus_.
>
> _Ampelosaurus_ is from Campagne-sur-Aude, which, IIRC, is near Carcassonne 
> (probably about 30-40 km away).  Coincidentally, Carcassonne itself is a 
> city out of time; it's a Medieval walled city with, of all things, a 
> "Museum of Pain"!
>
> _Ampelosaurus_ was, only described* as being found in the Lower 
> Maastrichtian.  No absolute date was given.  Maybe this will turn out to 
> be a new species?

_
"The Wise Man is like a bamboo tree;
                simple, upright, and useful, but hollow inside"

                                                Lao Tzu

Silvio Renesto

Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra
Università degli Studi di Milano
Via Mangiagalli 34
I 20133 Milano
Italy
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e-mail:  renesto@mailserver.unimi.it
        Silvio.Renesto@unimi.it
have a look at our Triassic  website at
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