Subject: Re: What did these animals look like?

["Jonathan R. Wagner" <znc14@ttacs.ttu.edu>]

Dr. Holtz wrote (responding to Grant Harding),
>>What did the most basal tetanurine probably look like?

>Something in the Piatnitzkysaurus/Gasosaurus range of things, most likely.
        Engh... I hate to sound like an old fogey, but Piatnitz seems
specialized, IMHO, and not a particularly good example of the basal
condition of tetanurans (cladograms notwithstanding).
        Now _Gasosaurus_, I can see that. It seems to me to be something
other tan non-basal, but it really looks plesiomorphic. Of course, a lot of
this depends on whether you look at the drawings or the photographs in the
article describing it (FTWDK: the _Dinosauria_ picture was copied from the
drawing, and shows, amongst other things, an obturator process).
        _Afrovenator_ is clearly derived, but kind of has that early
megalosaur/early allosaur look, and IMHO might make a good examle of a
not-quite so basal tetanuran.
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      Jonathan R. Wagner, Dept. of Geosciences, TTU, Lubbock TX 79409
      Web Page: TEMPORARILY DOWN, but visit http://www.ttu.edu/~geosc