----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, May 08, 2002 2:10
AM
Subject: The Armored Dinosaurs
This is very late, since the book is almost
out a year or so at the moment, but yesterday my parents came back from London
and bought me a copy. After reading some segments in the book, a couple of
questions and comments began to grow in my head and I wonder if any one could
help me with them...
- In the chapter about Hesperosaurus, which is
on overall pretty good, but it seems that Kenneth Carpenter and al. have
a problem with skulls. They can't
seem to get the elements right, especially in the out-line drawings with the
bone
identification. For instance, on
the photograph on page 60 there are 10 skull bones known (excluding the lower
jaw)
and the drawings based on the
skull elements on the next page show only 9 bones. And that is not all, in the
top
drawing the middle supraorbital
is missing, while in the bottom drawing the partial braincase is missing.
- Again in the Hesperosaurus chapter, the
different skull elements (when available of course on page 61:) can hardly
be
matched: the nasal is drawn with
a slight bend, which is not there in the actual material), the maxilla is far
more
slender than it is drawn on page
61 and so fort. In total the upper drawing has only one bone correct and that
is the
quadrate.
Has anyone else noticed this or am I just on
my own here? Currently work has started on a new skull reconstruction of
Hesperosaurus (based on the photograph) , I'll inform the list when it's
done.
- The Hesperosaurus-chapter is getting a
beating here, but again, if we look at page 62 (does this make me sound
like
Jim's dad from American Pie...?
;)), there is this skull reconstruction of Stegosaurus stenops. This skull
looks to
strange IMHO and is more like an
intermediate in a morph-program from the skull of Hesperosaurus to the real
skull
of Stegosaurus stenops. It is
based on the skull/ skull-elements of DMNH 33365, but does the skull of this
specimen really look like this? I
don't know who has acces to the actual material, but if someone is possible to
do so,
any comments would be
welcome.
The Phylogenetic Analyis of the Ankylosauria
was one of the chapters I was most anticipating too, but a couple of genera
emerged that are unknown to me. Could anyone help me with some information or
pictures about the following genera?
- Polacanthus rudgwickensis
- Nodocephalosaurus kirtlandensis
- Pinacosaurus mephistocephalus
- Animantarx ramaljonesi
- Stegopelta landerensis
- Texasetes pleurohalio
Thanks in advance for any help,
Peace,
Rutger Jansma
