Re: American Oviraptors?

["Thomas R. Holtz, Jr." <th81@umail.umd.edu>]

At 03:48 PM 1/20/99 PST, you wrote:
>I have a fossil cast of an 'Oviraptor sp. claw' (wondering what the sp 
>is..*shrugs* Oviraptor something orrather mysterious chopped off 
>genus-species name, no doubt),From the Wyoming Dinosaur Center.


_Oviraptor_ sp. means, basically, "shrugs" _Oviraptor_ (I like that).

(What it actually means is an specimen of _Oviraptor_ indeterminate to
species level).

>On the bottom of the tag, after the date of something-or-other MYA,
>it states, what I assume is the place found--Wyoming?!.
>I thought all Oviraptosaurs lived in,like, the gobi?
>Can anyone else give me more information on this animal,
>or tell me if it was a case of mis-labling?

Well, it is almost certainly mislabled, as _Oviraptor_ proper is an Asian form.

However oviraptorosaurs are known in North America: the primitive
_Microvenator_ and the caenagnathid _Chirostenotes_, to name two.

Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
Vertebrate Paleontologist     Webpage: http://www.geol.umd.edu
Dept. of Geology              Email:tholtz@geol.umd.edu
University of Maryland        Phone:301-405-4084
College Park, MD  20742       Fax:  301-314-9661