RE: New Sauropod; also, oviraptorid brains

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

> Jerald D. Harris and Peter Dodson
>
> A new diplodocoid sauropod dinosaur from the Upper Jurassic Morrison
> Formation of Montana, USA
>
>   Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 49 (2), 2004: 197-210
> A partial skeleton of a new sauropod dinosaur from the Upper Jurassic
> Morrison Formation (?Tithonian) of Montana is described.
> Suuwassea emilieae
> gen. et sp. nov. is diagnosed by numerous cranial, axial, and
> appendicular
> autapomorphies.

[snip]

Suuwassea (pronounced "SOO-oo-WAH-see-uh") is one of the coolest names in
dinosaur taxonomy, being derived from a Crow word "suuwassa", meaning "the
first thunder heard in Spring". Additional, "suu" by itself is "thunder" and
"wassa" "ancient", so it also means (sort of) "Paleobronto": appropriate for
the phylogenetic position.

> Suuwassea represents the first
> well-supported, North American, non-diplodocid representative of the
> Diplodocoidea and provides new insight into the origins of both the
> Diplodocidae and Dicraeosauridae.

The Diplo-Dicraeo node is here named Fagellicaudata, the whiptails.

>From the acknowledgements:
"The authors emphasize that much of the research conducted on
ANS 21122 was completed by Dr.William Donawick, Barbara
Grandstaff, Matthew Lamanna, Doreena Patrick, Karen Poole, Dr.
Allison Tumarkin-Deratzian (all University of Pennsylvania), Jason
Poole, Patricia Kane-Vanni, Lisa Sachs, Sherry Michael Weller (all
Academy of Natural Sciences), William E.Gottobrio (Bryn Mawr
College), Paul Penkalski (Geology Museum,University of Wiscon-
sin-Madison), and Dr.Hailu You (Chinese Academy of Geological
Sciences), but nomenclatural etiquette prevented us from including
them as authors on the paper."

Also in that issue:

Osmolska, H. 2004. Evidence on relation of brain to endocranial cavity in
oviraptorid dinosaurs. APP 49(2): 321-324.

Examines the skull roof of Ingenia, demonstrating that like mammals,
pterosaurs, birds, and ornithomimosaurs, there are numerous vascular
impressions on the bone in the region of the cerebral hemispheres and
cerebellum (indeed, more common and prominent than in ornithomimosaurs; and
even less prominent in the published deinonychosaur braincases). So these
guys had big brains filling up their braincase. Of taxonomic interest is
Osmolska's use of the binomen Troodon inequalis: no discussion of whether
she has work elsewhere justifying a split between T. inequalis and T.
formosus, or just a slip of using the trivial nomen in the referred
troodontid braincase papers (back in the before time, the long, long ago,
when "Stenonychosaurus" still roamed the literature).


                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