Re: Moroccan noasaurid?

["Jaime A. Headden" <qilongia@yahoo.com>]

Mickey Mortimer (Mickey_Mortimer111@msn.com) wrote:

<I said some derived coelurosaurs have sagittal crests, didn't I?  This is
not only found in oviraptorids, but also troodontids, Avimimus,
dromaeosaurids and perhaps Ornitholestes.  Which abelisaurids lack 
sagittal crests, if "only some" includes Aucasaurus, Majungatholus,
Carnotaurus, Indosaurus, Abelisaurus and Indosuchus?  There don't seem to
be any abelisaurids left with known parietals.  Allosauroids lack sagittal
crests (Holtz, 2000).>

  I did in fact describe in my paragraph which ones do not have the
sagittal crest. One is *Indosuchus*, without even a medial crest caudal to
the triangular plateau, and the other is *Abelisaurus*. Carnotaurines, as
I said, always have one. *Avimimus* has a small crest on the top of the
inter parietal plateaus, but this is between the supratemporal fossa. This
would make such a crest non-analogous to those of other maniraptorans. The
same is true for some advanced oviraptorids. As I described, only some
_basal_ oviraptorids have the crest, but I should elaborate that this is
the _true_ crest for the mandibular adductors.

<Wouldn't the "broad elongated" olfactory bulbs suggest a
non-maniraptoran, as maniraptorans were reducing these structures
(Wharton, 2001).  Also, you don't explain why the cerebral hemispheres are
so small if this is a maniraptoran.  It has been shown these structures
are much larger in relation to size in coelurosaurs (Larsson, 2001).  I
would assume development of binocular vision would be common in small
theropods and Majungatholus also has pneumatic frontals.  The large orbits
are a size-related feature common in small basal theropods too (eg.
coelophysoids).>

  *sigh* ... I didn't say it was a maniraptoran ... or a maniraptoriform.
I only provided an alternate hypothesis and interpretation. I have no
intention of proving you wrong.

  Oh, my citation of plate X, fig. 5 for my dorsal ID should be plate V,
fig. 5. Sorry for the confusion. And blessed be, I had my tibia reversed.
More later....

  Cheers,

=====
Jaime A. Headden

  Little steps are often the hardest to take.  We are too used to making leaps 
in the face of adversity, that a simple skip is so hard to do.  We should all 
learn to walk soft, walk small, see the world around us rather than zoom by it.

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