Re: Leaellynasaura, Tails, and Integument

[Dann Pigdon <dannj@alphalink.com.au>]

On Tue, Jul 13th, 2010 at 9:11 AM, Heinrich Mallison 
<heinrich.mallison@googlemail.com> wrote:

> quote from a manuscript of mine:
> 
> >>Norell & Makovicky (1999: fig. 21) figure an S-curved,
> >>articulated tail of Velociraptor mongoliensis in dorsal view.
> >>Tracing the path of the tail axis of the Velociraptor specimen
> >>in Rhinoceros 4.0® allows measuring the angle across the
> >>first bend as 98° for the first ten caudals, which translates
> >>to nearly 10° per intervertebral joint.
> 
> That specimen shows extremely elongated zygs. So much for lateral
> stiffening...... OK, compared to crocodiles and especially monitors,
> this IS limited mobility.
> 
> Norell, M.A. & Makovicky, P.J. 1999: Important features of the
> dromaeosaurid skeleton II: information from newly collected specimens
> of Velociraptor mongoliensis. American Museum Novitates 3282, 1?45.

That paper is available for free here, for anyone interested:
http://digitallibrary.amnh.org/dspace/handle/2246/3025

It's a 20Mb PDF though (lots of big hi-res images!).

-- 
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Dann Pigdon
Spatial Data Analyst               Australian Dinosaurs
Melbourne, Australia               http://home.alphalink.com.au/~dannj
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