Ammosaurus = Anchisaurus

[Jaime Headden <qi_leong@hotmail.com>]

Adam Yates continues from an earlier publication in which he averred that 
*Anchisaurus* is both a valid taxon and one of the most basal members of a 
clade called Sauropoda.

Yates, A. M. in press. A revision of the problematic sauropodomorph dinosaurs 
from Manchester, Connecticut and the status of *Anchisaurus* Marsh. 
_Palaeontology_ (Published Online, Early View May 12, 2010: 
10.1111/j.1475-4983.2010.00952.x)
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/123437418/abstract

Abstract:
  "The taxonomic status of the sauropodomorph dinosaurs from the Newark 
Supergroup of north-eastern USA is reviewed. The inclusion of the three 
articulated skeletons from Wolcott's Quarry, Manchester, Connecticut in a 
single species is supported. Despite claims to the contrary the Manchester 
skeletons can be referred to the species *Anchisaurus polyzelus,* which is 
based on a fragmentary specimen from Massachusetts. Two autapomorphies: 
dorsoventrally flattened ischial blades set at a low angle to each other and 
slender sacral ribs of the first sacral vertebra, link the holotype of *A. 
polyzelus*  to the Manchester specimens. A revised diagnosis of the species and 
new skull reconstruction are presented. Recent anatomical observations of *A. 
polyzelus* indicate that several character states used to assess its 
phylogenetic position require revision. However, these are not sufficient to 
overturn previous cladistic analyses. A revised cladistic analysis continues to 
find support for *Anchisaurus* as a relatively derived basal sauropodomorph 
that lies outside of the clade *Melanorosaurus* + *Sauropoda* but is more 
closely related to it than to 'core prosauropods' such as *Plateosaurus* and 
*Massospondylus.*"

Cheers,

  Jaime A. Headden
  The Bite Stuff (site v2)
  http://qilong.wordpress.com/

"Innocent, unbiased observation is a myth." --- P.B. Medawar (1969)


"Ever since man first left his cave and met a stranger with a
different language and a new way of looking at things, the human race
has had a dream: to kill him, so we don't have to learn his language or
his new way of looking at things." --- Zapp Brannigan (Beast With a Billion 
Backs)

                                          
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