Selected quotes from authors: Scipionyx samniticus

[Phillip Bigelow <bh162@scn.org>]

For those list members who have no access to the journal _Nature_,
here are some <very> selected quotes from the Dal Sasso and Signore
(1998) paper entitled:

         "EXCEPTIONAL SOFT-TISSUE PRESERVATION IN A
           THEROPOD DINOSAUR FROM ITALY"

By Cristiano Dal Sasso and Marco Signore

_Nature_, volume 392 (March 26, 1998):383-387.

Words in <  > belong to me <pb>.


"From the Lower Cretaceous Pietraroia Plattenkalk (Benevento Province,
southern Italy)....Albian (~113 Myr ago)....lagoonal environment.

"The preservation is better than in other lagerstatten where theropod
soft tissue has been reported, such as the Santana Formation of Brazil
and the Yixian Formation of China.

"Theropoda, Tetanurae, Coelurosauria, Maniraptoriformes

"Holotype.-  <no specimen number given!!! :-( <pb>>

"Referable to Maniraptoriformes on the basis of the derived presence
of third antorbital fenestral, elongate cervical prezygapophyses,
forelimb/presacral ratio of 0.7, ulna bowed posteriorly,
semilunate carpal <!!! <pb>>, and slender metacarpal III.

"Little more than a hatchling.

"Most of the intestine (tenuis), 5.22 mm average diameter, is
positioned further forwards than it is generally thought to be,
whereas the colon passes through the pelvic canal, close to the
vertebral column, and ends just above the ischiadic foot.  The gut
is surprisingly short and deep in section, suggesting a high
absorbtion rate.

"A large, reddish well delimited haematitic halo is tentatively
interpreted as liver traces, mainly because of its post-sternal
location.

"The presence of a furcula in this articulated specimen
eliminates every doubt about the interpretation of similar
structures in other theropods."

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Thus end-ith the quotes.
                      <pb>