Re: smallest and largest Jurassic theropods

["Jaime A. Headden" <qilongia@yahoo.com>]

Mickey Mortimer (Mickey_Mortimer111@msn.com) wrote:

<Archaeopteryx lithographica Meyer 1861
(JM 2257; Eichstatt- 5th; holotype of Archaeopteryx recurva)>

  *Archaeopteryx* only works if the adult is smaller. In this case, as in
embryos, one can always determine the smallest dinosaur as any non-adult,
since it is likely they will always be extremely small. The embryonic
sauropods from Auca Mahuevo are, to my knowledge, smaller than adult
specimens of *Archaeopteryx* (say, the Solnhofen specimen, as assumed to
be adult). This would appear to invalidate using juveniles or subadults to
conform to a "smallest dinosaur" paradigm. Otherwise, I would beleive the
Lower Jurassic *Coelophysis* juveniles or the Portuguese theropod embryo
referred to *Lourinhanosaurus* would be the winners, along with the
possible juvenile (undeveloped epiphyses of long bones, for example)
*Epidendrosaurus.* The possibly synonymous and coeval *Scansoriopteryx* is
only a slight bit larger than *Epidendrosaurus.*

<Compsognathus longipes Wagner 1859
 Holotype- (BSP AS I 536)>

  Smaller and possibly younger and synonymous with the MNHN *C.
corallestris* specimen, almost 25% larger than the BSP specimen, and
probably (as above) the taker for smallest *Compsognathus* specimen.

  Both Scott Hartman and I have skeletal comparisons on the Dinosauricon
at http://dino.lm.com/

<Lukousaurus yini Young 1948>

  Mickey himself has suggested, along with others, that this is a
sphenosuchian:

  http://www.cmnh.org/dinoarch/2000Sep/msg00086.html

  also,

  http://www.cmnh.org/dinoarch/2002Apr/msg00241.html

  in which I listed citations to people who have looked at the material
and concluded likewise or implied so.

<Podokesaurus holyokensis Talbot 1911>

  Likely a juvenile *Coelophysis,* the epiphyses are hardly developed and
badly damaged prior to the destruction of the fossils, as determined by
the numerous casts that have replaced it.

  Colbert, E.H. 1964. The Triassic dinosaur genera *Podokesaurus* and
*Coelophysis.* _American Museum Novitates_ 2168: 1-12.

<Borsti
  Material- (Eichstätter Jura-Museum coll.) (juv.) skull (76 mm), anterior
cervical vertebrae, more?>

  A good deal larger than even *Compsognathus,* so peculiar to include
this here.

  Cheers,

=====
Jaime A. Headden

  Little steps are often the hardest to take.  We are too used to making leaps 
in the face of adversity, that a simple skip is so hard to do.  We should all 
learn to walk soft, walk small, see the world around us rather than zoom by it.

"Innocent, unbiased observation is a myth." --- P.B. Medawar (1969)


                
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