Sandy Site (was RE: K-T mammals)

[Darryl Jones <dinoguy@sympatico.ca>]

At 03:29 PM 5/12/2002, Tracy L. Ford wrote:
> At the Sandy Site in South Dakota, there is a huge diversity of the latest
> Maastrichtian fauna, dinosaurs, etc. But since it's a 'privately' collected
> site...

I am still a bit sketchy on this HUGE diversity.  You and I have talked 
about this before.  I got from the archives (August 11, 1998):

>The dinosaur count is 10 theropods, 1 hadrosaur, 2 thescelosaurs, 6 
NEW >ornithischians, 3 pachycephalosaurs, 1 ceratopsian.

Are these figures still accurate?  The hadrosaur and the ceratopsian are 
both fairly normal (Edmontosaurus and Triceratops).  Are the rest definites 
or is it possible that there is some ontogenic variation happening?  10 
theropods is either really cool (if well preserved) or major league splitting.

I really wish that some of this stuff could be published or at least 
reported on (like I said in the first go round at this, I talked to Mike 
about this at the SVP in Pittsburgh).  It was some great, well preserved 
material.  He was proud of the material (read - willing to talk at great 
lengths about his finds) and really wanted it to be reported.  It is too 
bad that this is a commercial endeavor, or it probably would have been 
published by now (although he SEEMS to be amoung the best of what the 
commercial fossil world has to offer).



Darryl Jones  <dinoguy@sympatico.ca>

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