Re: Long-necked stegosaur coming out in Proceedings B

[Tim Williams <tijawi@yahoo.com>]

David Marjanovic wrote:

> So _Kentrosaurus_ had paired spines on the hips, and
> 'Gigantspinosaurus' had them on the shoulders?
> 
> Apparently.

Thanks for the info, David.

The referred, articulated specimen of _Tuojiangosaurus_ has spines preserved in 
the scapular region (expanded base of spine positioned over the proximal end of 
the scapula).  A referred specimen of _Huayangosaurus_ is also reported to have 
a pair of spines preserved in the pectoral region.  So these two stegosaurs 
apparently have parascapular spines (shoulders), rather than parasacral spines 
(hips).  Given the morphology of the iliac blade in _Kentrosaurus_, parasacral 
spines make sense (and is one of the reasons why _Kentrosaurus_ was originally 
restored with parasacral spines).

Galton & Upchurch (in the Stegosauria chapter of Dinosauria II) mention that 
_Wuerhosaurus_ has parascapular spines too.  This would seem to undermine this 
genus' referral to _Stegosaurus_ (which is one of the few stegosaurs that 
clearly doesn't have either parascapular or parasacral spines).   


> > BTW, isn't the name 'Gigantspinosaurus' a valid
> genus?  I had thought the original description (by
> Ouyang) is considered to be valid, including by Susannah
> Maidment's recent stegosaur papers.
> 
> No idea, I haven't read most of the relevant papers.


Hmmm... why then did you say that the description of this genus was "_still_ 
unpublished"?


Meor Hakif wrote:

> Could the long neck of this stegosaur be useful in
> confusing predators, so that they become unsure which is the
> end to be avoided (ie. the tail with the thagomizer). I
> think some arthropods use this kind of head or tail mimicry.
> It would be far more confusing if they lived in large
> herds.


Somebody (was it Thulborn?) once proposed this idea for ankylosaurids - that 
the terminal tail club, when held erect, would give the animal the appearance 
(silhouette) of a sauropod from a distance.  The idea didn't get a whole lot of 
traction...


Cheers

Tim