Re: Tyrannosaurus third finger

[Dino Guy Ralph <ralph.miller@alumni.usc.edu>]

Donna:

I brought this up before.  The verdict from the Theropod -- oops! -- I mean 
the Dinosaur Mailing List was that Rexy had a third metacarpal, but not a 
third finger, making it difficult to determine whether it was making rude 
gestures.  (Okay, I made up that last comment myself).

On the other hand, the Early Cretaceous Chinese basal feathered 
tyrannosauroid, _Dilong paradoxus_, did have three fingers, but it's the 
only tyrannosauroid yet discovered with three manual phalanges, and it 
predates _T. rex_ by about 60 million years.
--------
"Dino Guy" Ralph W. Miller III
Docent at the California Academy of Sciences
proud member of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology

From: "Donna Braginetz" <quailspg@frii.com>
To: "DML" <dinosaur@usc.edu>
Sent: Monday, November 15, 2004 11:46 AM
Subject: Tyrannosaurus third finger


> Okay then, I'd like to hear reactions to the third finger displayed on
> the cast of the Peck's Rex manus. Did I miss previous discussion about
> this on the list? I thought certain I'd hear people talking about it at
> the meeting but nobody seemed very impressed.
>
>
> - DONNA BRAGINETZ