CARNOTAURUS HANDS

["Darren Naish" <dwn194@soton.ac.uk>]

_RESOLVE THIS ISSUE BEFORE DRAWING CARNOTAURUS_

> Speaking of Carnotaurus arms, I've only just got hold of a copy of
> the description of this beast published by the LACM. In it the
> authors state that the humerus had lost the torsion between the
> proximal and distal ends, and that the radius and ulna did not cross
> as they do in other theropods. This straightening out of the arm was
> supposed to have rotated the orientation of the hand so that the
> palmar surface faced anteriorly!  (at least that was my
> understanding of their writing) (Adam Yates)

Hey, I've just _got_ to comment on this. Several of you will have seen
Luis Rey's recent restoration of a couple of fighting carnotaurs, and
as one of his advisors I got him to 'correct' both the horns and the
hands, the two parts of _Carnotaurus_ that are hardly ever restored
correctly (Greg is the only exception I am aware of, and then only in
his most updated reconstruction).

The hands proved real tricky though, as the diagrams and the figure in
the monograph aren't, as far as I can ascertain, in absolute
agreement. I finally plumped for an arrangement where the palm faces
medially, the backward-pointing 'spike' is digit 4, and digits I-III
are short, stumpy and without unguals. On at least two occasions of
which I am aware, _Carnotaurus_ has been illustrated with a 'mitten',
but the spike has been shown pointing cranially. Though I offered this
objective to Luis, after reading the monograph he concluded that the
palm faced away from the body. This looks so weird, and can be seen in
the painting nowadays - the problem I have with it is that it would
mean that the 'spike' is digit I (if you turn your palms outward, your
thumb points tail- ward*). It's very interesting that Adam has come to
the same 'palm-outward' conclusion, and I'm more confused than
ever. I'd be most pleased if someone could resolve this issue once and
for all.

> This seems totally bizare and I have great trouble imaging how it
> could work. In Stephen Czerkas's model it appears that the palms
> face medially like other theropods.

Whether the palm faced medially or not, it is evident from the
monograph that all of the well known carnotaur restorations ignore
this very peculiar morphology. It's certainly wrong to show
_Carnotaurus_ with an abrupt, but otherwise normal, theropod manus.

Perhaps Greg Paul could sort this all out. 

> "Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast"
 
"Dwain Dibley?!"

DARREN NAISH

*You don't have a tail? ;-)