Re: Three new dinosaur species. And comments/questions about them.

["Allan Edels" <edels@email.msn.com>]

1)    _Rahona ostromi_ - My understanding is that there are foot, front
claw, ribs, partial skull, and some verts found - also - possible wings (The
latter is being challenged by some - particularly Feduccia).  [Note that
there may be a need to change the genera - there is a species of butterfly
on the island called _Rahona_.]

2)     I can't tell you much about _Shuvuuia_ - except that I THINK you
spelled it right.

3)    _Scipionyx_: Time to start reading the news clippings carefully again.
The general press said that it was a theropod, related to _Tyrannosaurus_.
["The young theropod, named Scipionyx samniticus, is more than 110 million
years old and is a distant cousin of Tyrannosaurus rex"].    I believe that
further, detailed reports indicate maniraptoriform as a likely relation.
(Estimated age: 113 million years old).
    Concerning "best preserved dinosaur ever" - The internal tissues seem to
be the best preserved ever - windpipe, intestines, liver, etc. seem to be
well preserved.  (One report indicated that the liver seemed to have
retained the life color!!!!).  It is not the most complete,
_Sinosauropteryx_ is more complete in terms of bones perserved, as well as
skin and of course, the "fibers"  - and it too has some marvelous internal
preservation (possibly the lungs - and maybe the diaphragm).  It is VERY
flat, whereas _Scipionyx_ shows more 3D preservation (the intestines, for
example).
    The animal is about 13 inches long (although I've seen lengths of 23.7
cms somewhere).  It is considered to be a juvenile - perhaps a hatchling.
Full grown size estimate: 6 feet (180 cm).
    The best comment about this dinosaur is based on how it was discovered:
The Italian shoemaker who found it thought it was just another bird fossil,
and put it in his basement.  When he saw Jurassic Park (the movie), he
decided to take the fossil to a musem to check it.  Someone on the list
asked: "Just how many bird fossils does this guy HAVE in his cellar?!?!"
(Wouldn't it be something if this shoemaker had an entire series of fossils
showing once and for all whether BADD, BAMM, or BCF is the correct theory?)
-----Original Message-----
From: DinosØMP <padron@online.no>
To: dinosaur@usc.edu <dinosaur@usc.edu>
Date: Sunday, March 29, 1998 3:13 AM
Subject: Three new dinosaur species. And comments/questions about them.


>I think no one of this list do not know which species I'm talking about:)
>I have a questions for two of them, and some comments on the third.
>
>1) What has ever been found of Rahona ostromi? I saw a photo of its foot,
>but nothing more. Is the foot the only thing that has been found? If so,
>the foot is as little birdlike as any Dromaeosaurid foot!
>
>2) What more than the skull was found of Shuvuuia? And IS Shuvuuia the
>correct pronuncation of the name?
>
>3) I have been looking at the photo of Scipionyx, and reading about it.
>They say its a Tyrannosaurid. Well, how can you see that? It has got
>three elongated fingers - just like a small theropod, like Dromaeosaurs
>or Oviraptors! And another thing is: the strange objects between the
>ribs, are they remains of soft tissues, or the aminals last meal? Another
>thing is that I read that it was the "best preserved dinosaur ever".
>Well, I remember some Sinosauropteryx being 100% intact, plus fossilized
>"soft tissues" and last meals: that is two things more that Scipionyx
>misses.
>
>-DinosØMP
>
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