RE: Oviraptorid questions

[Jaime Headden <qi_leong@hotmail.com>]

Guy Leahy wrote:



GIN 100/42, the image of *Oviraptor philoceratops* since 1986, was the subject 
of the primary diagnostic source of data in regards to Barsbold's 1983 
[monographic treatment of] Oviraptoridae. It has since been on exhibition and 
has been going around the world. This has limited further comprehensive study 
of the material. It was the topic of some discussion as recently as Clark et 
al's cranial osteology of *Citipati osmolskae*, wherein GIN 100/42 was referred 
to as *Citipati* sp. 

Barsbold R. 1983. [Carnivorous dinosaurs from the Cretaceous of
Mongolia.] _Trudy -- Sovmyestnaya
 Sovyetsko-Mongol'skoy Palyeontologichyeskiya Ekspyeditsiya_ 19:5-120.

Clark, J.M., M.A. Norell, and T. Rowe. 2002. Cranial anatomy of *Citipati 
osmolskae* (Theropoda, Oviraptorosauria) and a reinterpretation of the holotype 
of *Oviraptor philoceratops*. _American Museum Novitates_ 3364:1-24.

The other specimens are undescribed, and may or may not correspond to a 
previously described species. The nature of premaxillary--nasal--frontal crests 
in oviraptorids relative to ontogeny has not been studied in any extent, so 
assessing the generic identity of these skulls (as crestless) compared to 
crested taxa (like *Oviraptor*) is difficult initially. These skulls have also 
been around the circuit (as far as I've seen) as *Conchoraptor* or *Ingenia* -- 
the latter by far the most common -- and may also be *Khaan*.

Cheers,

Jaime A. Headden

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