Re: Stegosaurus Plates

["Thomas R. Holtz, Jr." <th81@umail.umd.edu>]

At 08:56 AM 9/8/97 -0400, Steve.Tomporowski wrote:

>>Alas, Steve's analysis proved incorrect. A new, virtually complete
>>_Stegosaurus_ to be described by Ken Carpenter shows the plates in their 
>life
>>position, and they're in two rows separated by several inches.
>
>Then the remaining question is.....matched rows or alternating?

Alternating in _Stegosaurus_, paired in more primitive stegosaurs.

Part of the failing of Czerkas' analysis was his lack of attention to
phylogeny.  Other, more primitive stegosaurs (_Kentrosaurus_,
_Tuojiangosaurus_, etc.) have paired rows of scutes, so the expectation is
that _Stegosaurus_ had such, too.

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