Re: the Benevento theropod is named!

[chris brochu <cbrochu@fmppr.fmnh.org>]

Out of curiosity - anyone know how they determined it's an immature
specimen as opposed to an adult?  I haven't seen the article yet, and am
not likely to for a couple of weeks.


chris





>Dinogeorge just wrote:
>>
>>As soon as I get a copy of the paper in last week's _Nature_ on the
>>_Mononykus_ relative _Shuvuuia_ (spelling probably correct), that will become
>>DGL entry #821--even though it was published a day earlier than _Rahona_.
>>
>Well, get ready for #822!
>
>I guess I don't have to sit on this story anymore, since its gone out over
>the wires, and I was just on Aussie radio live...
>
>The really, really well-preserved Benevento theropod (southern Italy, Albian
>age) which has been described briefly in the past has been described in a
>paper in the latest Nature:
>
>Dal Sasso, C. & M. Signore. 1998.  Exceptional soft-tissue preservation in a
>theropod dinosaur from Italy.  Nature 392: 383-387.
>
>It is named _Scipionyx samnaticus_, after the discoverer of the Pietraroia
>Plattenkalk (the formation in which it is preserved) Scipione Breislak (and
>also for Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus, the famous Roman general) and
>after Samnium, the ancient name for this region of Italy.
>
>I would like the opportunity to be the first to publically call it Skippy
>the Dinosaur. :-)
>
>It is considered a maniraptoriform of no certain affinity: looks pretty
>compsognathid-like, although differs from Compy & Sinosauropteryx in manual
>features. It's got a furcula (no big surprise).  It's a baby (had not gone
>through the first wave of tooth replacement, HUGE skull size, gigantic
>hyoids (as long as the forearm), etc.), only 24 cm from tip of premax to
>caudal 9 (the end of what is preserved).
>
>Mineralized internal features are present, including muscle fibers, and 3D
>preserved intestines!  The small intestine is present in the anterior half
>of the abdominal cavity, while the colon extends through the pelvic canal
>and down subparallel to the ischium.
>
>Unfortunately, no external integument is preserved: no sign of skin nor
>anything (scale, protofeather, hair, loofa, sandpaper, etc.) on it.
>
>So, we've had Rahona, Shuvuuia, and Scipionyx this year so far.  Any other
>new dinosaur genera?  Come on, ornithischian and sauropod workers: you're
>slacking off! :-)
>
>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


-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=
Christopher Brochu, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Research Scientist
Department of Geology
Field Museum of Natural History
Lake Shore Drive at Roosevelt Road
Chicago, IL  60605  USA

phone:  312-922-9410, ext. 469
fax:  312-922-9566

cbrochu@fmppr.fmnh.org