SCLEROTIC BONES, CERATOSAURS etc.

[darren.naish@port.ac.uk]

On the subject of sclerotic ossicles in dinosaurs, George wrote...

> All dinosaurs for which excellent skulls are known do have sclerotic 
> rings (e.g., hadrosaurians, tyrannosaurians and other theropods, 
> protoceratopids),

Out of interest, which tyrannosaur specimens reveal sclerotic 
ossicles? I wasn't aware that they were known.

Tom Holtz recently noted that, though he submitted an abstract for 
the most recent SVP meeing, Oliver Rauhut did not turn up and didn't 
give his talk. It was entitled '_Elaphrosaurus bambergi_ and the 
early evolution of theropod dinosaurs' and was supposed to be a 
deconstruction of a monophyletic, Gauthier and Rowe-style, 
Ceratosauria. Good news is I have heard this talk as Oliver had also 
planned to present it at SVPCA (46th Symposium on Vertebrate 
Palaeontology and Comparative Anatomy, Bournemouth University, U.K.), 
and for this venue at least he turned up:) 

Oliver presented lots of new anatomical data gleaned from the Berlin 
_E. bambergi_ specimen. It is one weird beast, with a very odd 
coracoid, femur and strange waisted neural spines, and the fact that 
the _Dicraeosaurus_ skeleton was mounted in front of it AND the thing 
was in a sealed glass case made detailed examination tricky. 
Nevertheless, lots of new interesting stuff (and excellent photos). 
Plugging all of this into his data matrix, Oliver found that 
Ceratosauria fell to pieces. There were a few surprises involving the 
coelophysoids and the inclusion of _Shuvosaurus_, but seeing as I'm 
posting this information without permission I do not think I should 
give out all the details.

On another note, is anyone on the list coming to this year's 
Palaeontological Association meeting? It's being held on 16th-18th 
December here at Portsmouth. There are only three dinosaur talks of 
which I am aware: two on functional aspects of _Deinonychus_' 
morphology, and Gareth Dyke on London Clay birds.

Also, this Sunday (13th) there is another Dinosaur Convention. 
Details are very sketchy, but I assume the venue is same as last time 
(Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, London). Mike Howgate will, yet 
again, be convincing us all that birds are actually not related to 
dinosaurs; I will be talking about themes in the evolution of marine
tetrapods.

"Kill them all"

DARREN NAISH
darren.naish@port.ac.uk