Re: Re: Giganotosaurus Carolinii

[Thomas_R_HOLTZ@umail.umd.edu (th81)]

>(I hope you don't mind my quoting you, George. Is it safe to say that the
>verdict is not yet in on whether T. rex has been deposed?)

In all comparable bones of Giganotosaurus and "Sue", those of the former are
a smidge larger than the latter.  So, OF KNOWN SPECIMENS, Giganotosaurus is
larger than any known T. rex.  However, with a sample size of one in the one
case, and a dozen good remains in the second, these aren't really stastically
meaningful comparisons.
>
>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?

Since Giganotosaurus seems to be a non-tyrannosaurid, non-alvarezsaurid
tetanurine, three fingers is the best (phylogenetic) bet.  In fact, I would
not be surprised if it had a digitless atrophied mcIV, which many primitive
tetanurines seem to have.

When I saw the preliminary sketches for the Dinotopia Giganotosaurus, I
thought they are as reasonable as anything else I've seen of the beast.

>In a later posting I'll publish the song I wrote to help introduce G.
>carolinii to the students at my school.

Watch out, or I'll post the "Tyrant King" song (to G&S's "The Pirate King")
I worked on in grad school!! :-)

Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
Vertebrate Paleontologist
Dept. of Geology
University of Maryland
College Park, MD  20742
Email:Thomas_R_HOLTZ@umail.umd.edu (th81)
Fax: 301-314-9661
Phone:301-405-4084