A couple of things (was RE: New refs... oh WOW!!! & Carcharodontosaurids)

["Thomas R. Holtz, Jr." <tholtz@geol.umd.edu>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-dinosaur@usc.edu [mailto:owner-dinosaur@usc.edu]On Behalf Of
> David Marjanovic
> Sent: Friday, April 02, 2004 1:40 PM
> To: DML
> Subject: Re: New refs... oh WOW!!!
>
>
> > Middle Jurassic?  Really?  How firm is this dating?  I recall many
> > preliminary reports asserting that the Lower Yixian Formation
> was Jurassic
> > (which it is apparently not).
>
> While the Yixian Fm is Barremian, the Daohugou Fm does -- so far -- appear
> to be Middle Jurassic. That's the most important reason why
> *Epidendrosaurus* (from the latter) and *Scansoriopteryx* (from
> the former)
> are not considered synonymous.
>
A word of caution, however: local Chinese dating has been off before.  As in
two-or-three Epochs off...

> From: owner-dinosaur@usc.edu [mailto:owner-dinosaur@usc.edu]On Behalf Of
> Eric Hall

> Has it ever been suggested that Giganotosaurus is a species of
> Carcharodontosaurus?  The two seem very similar from what little
> I have gathered.

It has been suggested, but I don't think that suggestion ever made it to
print.

P.S. Earlier this week I promised a review of last week's GSA Dinosaurs of
the East Coast meeting.  That will still have to wait, but I briefly want to
mention Anthony Martin and Emma Rainforth's kickass talk on the resting
theropod specimen.  It is most definitely NOT feathered: or, if it is, then
toe drag marks and worm trails also had feathers...  Instead, the muddy
surface had an algal film (not uncommon in this facies) which pulled ("like
Saran wrap", to quote Martin), leaving the feather-like trace.

On top of it, the pubic impression isn't: it's a double strike of the
metatarsal impression.

More later,

                Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
                Vertebrate Paleontologist
Department of Geology           Director, Earth, Life & Time Program
University of Maryland          College Park Scholars
                College Park, MD  20742
http://www.geol.umd.edu/~tholtz/tholtz.htm
http://www.geol.umd.edu/~jmerck/eltsite
Phone:  301-405-4084    Email:  tholtz@geol.umd.edu
Fax (Geol):  301-314-9661       Fax (CPS-ELT): 301-405-0796