Re: Tsin(g)taosaurus

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

>Writing up this beastie for a game project . . . I've seen the name with
>and without a G - what is correct, please?


Ugh.  Now you've got me wondering.  I will check.
>
>And who or what is Tsin(g)tao?
>
>I want to get this right, rather than perpetuate error . . .
>
>(Oh, and while we're at it: Don Lessem, in KINGS OF CREATION, seems to
>express doubt that the "unicorn" reconstruction of the head crest is
>correct. Anything new on this?)
>
Debate over this has resulted in internicine (sp?) warfare among France's
top paleontologists.  Taquet believes the "horn" is simply the diplaced
nasals, and that 'Tsintaosaurus' is just the flat-headed hadrosaurid
Tanius.  Eric Buffetaut, on the other hand, concludes that Tsintaosaurus IS
a distinct taxon (a lambeosaurine, actually), that the crest is a real
crest, and that it is nothing like Tanius.  Additional info on the
stratigraphy of the region places Tanius earlier (Santonian-?lower
Campanian) than the (?upper Campanian or Maastricthian) Tsintaosaurus.

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