RE: Lepidocheirosaurus, new Jurassic ornithomimosaur from Siberia in Russia

[Mickey Mortimer <mickey_mortimer111@msn.com>]

It's more than just the authors' record.  This

 Lepidocheirosaurus is "based [on] manus fragments, caudal vertebrae, 
and imprints of horn scales", and Alifanov (2014) stated theropods at 
the Kulindadromeus locality "are 
usually represented by articulated distal caudal vertebrae. The 
collection also includes a plate with imprints of phalanges and with 
fragments (lacking the proximal part) of three metacarpals of a single 
individual. At present these fossils cannot be identified more 
precisely than Theropoda fam. indet."  His figure 2b of "PIN, no. 
5435/51a, caudal vertebrae of 
theropod (Theropoda indet.) in association with skin scales" is pretty 
obviously Kulindadromeus, with its distinctive overlapping dorsal 
scales.  Alifanov further states "One type comprises fossilized horny 
scales of theropods. In the area of caudal vertebrae, these scales are 
subrectangular (Fig. 2b), while in the hand they are trapezoid or 
sickleshaped."  Lepidocheirosaurus means "hand scale saurian", which 
would match the latter specimen.  Godefroit et al. describe "Smaller 
(<1 mm) rounded and nonoverlapping scales" around the manus and pes 
of Kulindadromeus.  Note Alifanov and Saveliev state Lepidocheirosaurus 
is similar to Nqwebasaurus, which has a fragmentary and undescribed 
tail, but whose pes (or even fragmentary manus) might be confused with a
 hypsilophodont-grade ornithischian pes such as Kulindadromeus'.  As the
 previous supposed Theropoda indet. is based on the same bones as 
Lepidocheirosaurus, it seems incredibly likely it's based on the same 
specimens as well, at least one of which is Kulindadromeus and the other
 which plausibly is.  Godefroit et al. (2014) reported that besides 
Kulindadromeus, only a single shed theropod tooth was found in the 
bonebeds, so that while theropod postcrania are possible at Kulinda, 
they are unprecedented.  Thus I think all the evidence makes it probable
 Lepidocheirosaurus is a junior synonym of Kulindadromeus, even without 
seeing the paper.

Mickey Mortimer

-------
> Date: Sun, 22 Nov 2015 05:15:04 -0800
> Subject: Re: Lepidocheirosaurus, new Jurassic ornithomimosaur from Siberia in 
> Russia
> From: jaimeheadden@gmail.com
> To: mickey_mortimer111@msn.com
>
> I've not been given a reason to trust the opinions of the two authors
> on scraps when it comes to their arguments on the two ornithischians,
> and this doesn't seem likely to change because of this. However, I
> would like to see the paper before going on with this.
>
> On Sun, Nov 22, 2015 at 3:04 AM, Mickey Mortimer
> <mickey_mortimer111@msn.com> wrote:
>> Well, the authors previously claimed there were two ornithischians at the 
>> site. The supposed theropod material in Alifanov (2014) is clearly 
>> Kulindadromeus. Here's my bet Lepidocheirosaurus is just Kulindadromeus too. 
>> These are the same people who claim alvarezsaurids are not theropods, so...
>>
>> Mickey Mortimer
>>
>> ----------------------------------------
>>> Date: Sun, 22 Nov 2015 00:29:21 -0800
>>> From: bcreisler@gmail.com
>>> To: dinosaur@usc.edu
>>> Subject: Lepidocheirosaurus, new Jurassic ornithomimosaur from Siberia in 
>>> Russia
>>>
>>> Ben Creisler
>>> bcreisler@gmail.com
>>>
>>>
>>> A new paper. However, I can't find a working link to a site with the
>>> pdf or full text. For now, here's what I can provide:
>>>
>>> V. R. Alifanov and S. V. Saveliev (2015)
>>> The Most Ancient Ornithomimosaur (Theropoda, Dinosauria), with Cover
>>> Imprints from the Upper Jurassic of Russia.
>>> Paleontological Journal 49 (6): 636–650
>>> doi:10.1134/S0031030115060039
>>> http://www.maik.ru/cgi-perl/search.pl?type=abstract&name=paleng&number=6&year=15&page=636
>>>
>>>
>>> A new theropod dinosaur, Lepidocheirosaurus natatilis gen. et sp.
>>> nov., from the Upper Jurassic (?Tithonian) deposits of the Kulinda
>>> locality (Transbaikal Area, Russia) is described based manus
>>> fragments, caudal vertebrae, and imprints of horn scales. The new form
>>> is similar in morphology to Nqwebasaurus thwazi de Klerk et al., 2000
>>> from the Lower Cretaceous of South Africa and assigne
>>> Nqwebasauridae fam. nov. (Ornithomimosauria, Theropoda). It is
>>> proposed that nqwebasaurids searched for relatively small prey in the
>>> water column.
>>
>
>
>
> --
> Jaime A. Headden
> The Bite Stuff: http://qilong.wordpress.com/
>
>
> "Innocent, unbiased observation is a myth" - P. B. Medawar (1969)