ceratopsian carriage etc

[Farlow@ipfw.edu]

     Hello, folks:
     
     I've just returned from SVP and (before that) the Paluxy River, where 
     Dave Thomas and I participated in filming a TV version of our 
     Scientific American article about R.T. Bird's theropod-sauropod chase 
     sequence of footprints.  It'll probably be on the Discovery channel 
     sometime next year.  We did some fun stuff, including one goofy stunt 
     that may even make people quit yammering at me about emus and motel 
     rooms.
     
     Well.  Having been out of town, I was unavailable to comment about the 
     study Peter Dodson and I did of ceratopsian forelimb carriage.  More 
     about that in a moment.
     
     First, though, does anybody have a snail or (preferably) an email 
     address for Geoffrey J. Cox, who did the splendid restorations for 
     Beverley McCulloch's little book about moa?
     
     OK, on to ceratopsians.  You first must realize that Dodson and I made 
     separate contributions to that study, a qualitative version of which 
     appeared in the most recent Dinofest volume.  Peter did the work on 
     the ceratopsid skeleton, and I did a rather elaborate geometric 
     analysis of the Ceratopsipes trackway.  I presented both in my talk at 
     the New York SVP meeting.  However, I have not studied ceratopsid 
     skeletal anatomy in any great first-hand detail.
     
     Because of this, the day before I gave my talk I wandered around the 
     AMNH's exhibits of dinosaurs, mammals, and other tetrapods, looking at 
     their humeral and shoulder anatomy.  I was indeed struck by 
     similarities of geometry of the proximal end of the humerus of 
     sauropods with ceratopsians, so much so that I went and grabbed 
     Dodson, and made him come look at the Apatosaurus mount with me.  
     "Somebody's sure to ask about this,"  I told him.  "You'd better have 
     an answer ready."
     
     Sure enough, immediately after my talk Greg Paul asked that very 
     question.  I confidently deferred to my co-author, and he punted.  
     Yikes.
     
     I asked him about this afterward, and he said he wasn't ready to 
     comment on sauropods vs. ceratopsians at that time.  I wouldn't read 
     into this that Dodson was throwing in the towel, the inference drawn 
     by one of the contributors to this list.  I expect that he will have 
     more to say about this at some point.  I have held off publishing my 
     quantitative gibberish until he has the time to finish the anatomical 
     analysis; it's waiting in a folder in my desk (hey, Peter, you 
     listening?  nudge, nudge).
     
     
     Jim Farlow