RE: new dinosaurs

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

> From: owner-dinosaur@usc.edu [mailto:owner-dinosaur@usc.edu]On Behalf Of
> Tim Williams
>
> I wrote:
>
> >I have not yet seen the JVP paper (though I would dearly love to), but the
> >cladogram in _Dinosauria II_ shows that _Appalachiosaurus_ and
> >_Dryptosaurus_ come up in different parts of the Tyrannosauroidea tree. The
> >"Alabama taxon" (= _Appalachiosaurus_) belongs on the
> >_Albertosaurus_-_Gorgosaurus_ line of the Tyrannosauridae, whereas
> >_Dryptosaurus_ is given as a basal tyrannosauroid. Any similarities between
> >the two are presumably symplesiomorphic.
>
> Scratch that.  According to the JVP paper, both _Dryptosaurus_ and
> _Appalachosaurus_ are basal tyrannosauroids - though certainly distinct.
>

Just wanted to add that putting Dilong into my matrix pulled Appalachiosaurus 
out of Albertosaurinae, and Tyrannosauridae, and put
it in the position that Carr et al. found.

That being said, the Albertosaurinae characters listed in DinoII are indeed 
present in Appa., so a return to that position is not
out of the question.

                Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
                Vertebrate Paleontologist
Department of Geology           Director, Earth, Life & Time Program
University of Maryland          College Park Scholars
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