Re: New Papers of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood

[David Marjanovic <david.marjanovic@gmx.at>]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Tim Williams" <twilliams_alpha@hotmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2007 1:06 AM

> I agree that the _Baryonyx_-_Suchomimus_ link suggests a trans-Tethys 
> dispersal.  But this might have been an isolated event.  Overall, the 
> north African and European dinofaunas do not show a lot in common during 
> the Early Cretaceous.  For example, it's not even close to the degree of 
> similarity shared by the Morrison, Tendaguru, and Lourinha/Alcobaca faunas 
> of the Late Jurassic.

Fine, but has *Valdosaurus* been split? On the other hand, *Barosaurus* has 
been, *Brachiosaurus* remains to be tested, *Allosaurus* is IIRC quite 
questionable in the Tendaguru, and *Australodocus* and *Dicraeosaurus* have 
not been found in the Morrison so far, while *Apatosaurus*, 
*Eobrontosaurus*, *Camarasaurus*, *Supersaurus* and others are so far 
missing from the Tendaguru.

> > Maybe. But considering the age of that part of Dromaeosaurinae with
> > "dromaeosaurine" teeth (Kimmeridgian), Unenlagiinae could easily be at 
> > least
> > as old.
>
> Yes, true.  But how confident are you in assigning dromaeosaurid teeth at 
> the "subfamily" level?  :-)

It's apparently an even smaller clade. For example, *Deinonychus* sometimes 
comes out as a basal dromaeosaurine, but retains "velociraptorine" teeth, 
like *Sinornithosaurus*. The teeth in question are stout and not much 
recurved, and are generally difficult to confuse with anything else.