NON-TROODONTS

[darren.naish@port.ac.uk]

T. Mike Keesey included the following beasts in his list of probable 
troodontids. I have some comments..

> _Ornithodesmus cluniculus_ (not to be confused with 
> "Ornithodesmus"_latidens_, a pterosaur)

I don't think it is a troodont (and I examined BMNH R187, the type, 
last week). Pete Makovicky has said quite a bit about the 
_Ornithodesmus cluniculus_ sacrum in some of his papers and his 
thesis, and both Tom Holtz and myself have some ideas in press on it. 
I'd rather not go into detail because these ideas need more work 
before they can go public. There are two new possible identities for 
BMNH R187.

> _Troodon? isfarensis_
> indeterminate material from the Cedar Mountain Formation

Cedar Mountain Fm? I thought this was one of Nessov's Soviet taxa. 
Another one is _T. asiamericana_. Nessov was hospitalised in a mental 
institute while he was writing the papers in which these taxa are 
named, and his suicide followed soon after. The taxa may therefore be 
regarded as of extremely dubious validity.

> And maybe:
> "_Araucanoraptor_"

Only circulating rumours and the name are publicly known for this one 
at present: do not take its tentative allocation to Troodontidae here 
at all seriously.

> _Elopteryx_, which may be synonymous with _Bradycneme_ and 
> _Heptasteornis__

I'm still unsure as to why these European tibiotarsal fragments have 
come to be regarded as possible troodont. I know this is the 
identification put forward by Greg in PDOTW, but surely it must go 
back further than that. Anyone know? They are, without doubt, not 
from troodontids. A new identity for them will be published later 
this year: sorry, my lips are seals.

> _Koparion_

My previous assertion that Dan Chure no longer regards this as a 
troodont was not correct. Dan actually says that they are not 
_necessarily_ from a troodont, this I learnt from Jerry Harris. 
Thanks Jerry.

> _Lisboasaurus_

An (atoposaurid?) crocodylomorph. Probably.

"No, not fish - - snake"

DARREN NAISH
darren.naish@port.ac.uk