Re: Herrerasaurus skin?

[Dino Guy Ralph <dinoguy@sbcglobal.net>]

Hi!

Jordan Mallon wrote:

> Hello all,
>
> I'm curious about a subject brought up here by Ralph Miller way back when:
>
> http://www.cmnh.org/dinoarch/1997Aug/msg00223.html
>
> Specifically, I'm interested in learning more about the _Herrerasaurus_ skin
> impressions he mentions.  Has anyone seen the Dinosaur Discoveries article
> Ralph tentatively cites?  Is it very easy to get a hold of?

The report turned out to be erroneous.  Unless there has been a new discovery of
_Herrerasaurus_ skin impressions or osteoderms, this was just a false lead.

And to update my e-mail allow me to say that the feathered compsognathid I refer
to is properly called _Sinosauropteryx prima_, and I have no doubt that it
sported simple feathers (which may or may not have exhibited a simple branching
pattern); _Pelicanimimus_ "skin" impressions were apparently subcutaneous muscle
tissue, which tells us nothing about its exterior appearance except that I
recall that the specimen apparently displays evidence for a dewlap under the
chin; and the hadrosaur skin impression from New Mexico were documented in the
article, "Dinosaur skin impressions and associated skeletal remains from the
Campanian of southwestern New Mexico: New data on the integument morphology of
hadrosaurs," by Anderson et al. in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 1998,
18(4): 739-745.  See a _Discover_ brief at
<www.discover.com/may_99/images/Bump.jpg> for an image of the skin, which is
thought to be that of a gryposaur.

The most basal reliable theropod integument would seem to be that of
_Carnotaurus_, which is tubercular in nature, with a distinct rosette pattern.
See my post at <www.cmnh/dinoarch/1998Mar/msg00649.html> for references.

Sorry about _Herrerasaurus_, but it wasn't my fault!    8<#

------Ralph W. Miller III
         ralph.miller@alumni.usc.edu