Re: New Refs #19

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

At 03:43 PM 4/13/98 -0400, Ralph Chapman wrote:

>A huge volume of the Zoological J. Of the Linnean Society just came
>out with a bunch of vert papers. For most I'll wait until I get it from the
>library but it includes a new paper by David Norman that I've been
>waiting for:
>
>Norman, D.B. 1998. On Asian ornithopods (Dinosauria: Ornithischia).
>   3. A new species of iguanodontid dinosaur. Zoological Journal of the
>   Linnean Society, 122:291-348.
>
>David has been saying for a while that the current view of Iguanodon
>orientalis is an error and he is indeed correct. He describes the type
>material of I.o. as non-diagnostic and probably I. bernissartensis. As
>a result the big nosed (Jimmy Durante-esque) ornithopod generally
>thought of as I.o. is free to go to a new genus and species and does
>here - Altirhinus kurzanovi.

Just picked this up myself.  (For those interested in fossil fish &
amphibians, this double-sized volume is a festschrift for Panchen, so LOTS
of papers on those forms!).

Tidbits from it: there is a fair amount of postcranium for this dino,
including a spike thumb; osteologies are in press or in prep. on
Probactrosaurus and Gilmoreosaurus (Norman), Bactrosaurus (Godefroit et
al.), an unnamed species of North African iguanodontid, possibly
Ouranosaurus (Chabli & Norman); and Norman has in prep. a new phylogenetic
analysis of Ornithopoda.

Some preliminary results of the latter are presented in this paper.
Tenontosaurus is shifted back to Hypsilophodontia, in part on the basis of
characters found in T. dossi.  A monophyletic Iguanodontidae is supported,
containing species of Iguanodon, Altirhinus, Ouranosaurus, and the other
North African species.  Probactrosaurus is supported as the sister taxon to
hadrosaurs.

Another interesting volume also just came out: a special issue of Zoology
(vol. 100, Number 3) on Vertebrate Design at Geological Boundaries.  This is
the results of one of the symposia at last summer's 5th International
Congress of Vertebrate Morphology (Bristol), a great meeting!  Papers in
this volume are on the origin of jaws in vertebrates (Mallat), amphibian
locomotion in time (Wake), squamates at geological boundaries (Kardong),
crocodylomorph evolution (Russell & Wu), bird evolution (Zweers & Vanden
Berge), ungulate teeth, diet & climate at the Eocene/Oligocene (Janis), and
limits to knowledge of the fossil record (Carroll).  Must read these in more
detail after DinoFest.

Talk to you later!

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