Re: Irritator and Spinosaurids

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

>
>I'd like to fly an highly speculative kite for the troops to take shots at.
>I've just got hold of the description of Irritator and a few points 
>strikeme as very interesting. The authors note that there is a similarity 
>between the teeth of Irritator and those of Spinosaurids. I was also 
>struck by the similarity of Irritator to Baryonyx in gross skull shape, 
>mostly the long low shape, the placement of the nostrils far back from 
>the snout tip and the strong postero-lateral inclination of the ramus of 
>the lacrimal that forms the preorbital bar. Perhaps Irritator is indeed a 
>spinosaurid and spinosaurids are infact coelurosaurs (bullatosaurs even?) 
>rather than megalosauroids.This may help explain the Baryonyx-like 
>features seen in the jaw of the coelurosaur, Archaeornithoides.

Very interesting hypothesis! Incidentally, A. Kellner has mentioned (but not
described in detail) a SPINOSAURID from the Santana!



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