Re: TRICERATOPS v. JUMBO

["Cliff Green" <dinonaut@emerytelcom.net>]

Dear Pluto and List,

    I am flat out saying, not insinuating,  that a triceratops with a 9-10
foot skull isn't bigger than the other two ceratopsians that reached giant
proportions. Torosaurus and Pentaceratops both have long frills and shorter
faces, and have skulls over 10 feet in length. Triceratops has a short
saddle shaped frill, with no fenestra and has a long face. I tried to be
clear on this. I apoligize if I wasn't.
        So how big is your "regular" sized triceratops. The ones that I have
seen, have skulls that run anywhere from six to eight feet, and the animal
is between 20 to twenty five feet in length. A really large triceratops
would still be under thirty feet in length.
    As a matter of fact, the Sam Noble Pentaceratops with the largest skull
of any ceratopsian, is under twenty five feet in length. And that with a 13
foot skull. Of course I am extremely suspicious of how much of it is
plaster, and if the post cranial elements are from the same animal. The Sam
Noble folks swear on a stack of bibles that it is not a composite, but the
mounted skeleton  looks "Big headed", as you put it.
   FYI,There is a movement within the paleo community to place triceratops
into a third clade of ceratopsians, that would include the primitive
Zuniceratops, and Diceratops.

Cliff

----- Original Message -----
From: <Pluto77189@aol.com>
To: <dinonaut@emerytelcom.net>
Sent: Monday, April 26, 2004 12:32 PM
Subject: Re: TRICERATOPS v. JUMBO


> a 9-10 foot triceratops skull doesn't mean it's bigger than the other
ceratopsians??
>
> Considering the size of a "regular" triceratops, a triceratops with a 10
ft. head would, proportionally, be much larger.
>
> Are you insinuating that the "T.maximus" is simply a "Big headed" form of
Triceratops, and not a larger form?