Re: Giganotosaurus Carolinii

[pharrinj@PLU.edu]

On Fri, 5 Jan 1996, John Schneiderman wrote:

> > 
> > James Gurney in _The World Beneath_ (sequel to _Dinotopia_) has G. make 
> > an appearance in that book, a real scoop fiction-wise. I seem to remember 
> > Gurney doing an article in  _The Prehistoric Times_ about it, too. His 
> > illustrations show G. carolinii with three fingers, as does the 
> > restoration on page 226 of the issue of _Nature_ cited above. Can someone 
> > comment on why it is assumed that G. had three fingers? Also, what do you 
> > think of the Gurney interpretation of what the living beast looked like?
> > 
> 
> I suspect that Giganotosaurus carolinii is a ceratosaurian (as are the 
> other large South American theropods; Carnotaurus, Abelisaurus)
> 
> I also suspect that the arm length of Giganotosaurus is longer then that 
> of Tyrannosaurids
> 
> It's a shame the material for Giganotosaurus was so fragmentary
> 
> ---John Schneiderman (dino@revelation.unomaha.edu)
> 

The pelvis is pretty clearly allosaurid, at least as illustrated in 
_Science_.  Also, abelisaurs have EXTREMELY short forelimbs.