Re: Proceratosaurus

["Jack Conrad" <conradjack@hotmail.com>]

> From: dbensen <dbensen@gotnet.net>
> Besides, since I've searched our archives and nobody's talked about
> Proceratosaurus bradleyi before, we will all be doing ourselves a favor.

Very brief entry by Molnar from _The Dinosauria_, reads:

_Proceratosaurus bradleyi_  Huene, 1926

A single skull with both jaws but lacking the cranial roof is the basis of 
_P. bradleyi_ (Woodward 1910), originally described as a species of 
_Megalosaurus_.  The specimen comes from the Bathonian Great Oolite of 
Gloucestershire, England.  Although the dorsal portion of the skull is 
missing, enough remains to show that a medial horn core sat on the nasals 
above the nares.  The skull is lightly built and the premaxillary and mesial 
dentary teeth are distinctly smaller than the more distal teeth of both 
jaws.  The surangular is shallow, indicating that _Proceratosaurus_ is not a 
carnosaur.  Paul (1988) has argued that _P. bradleyi_ is related to 
_Ornitholestes hermanni_.
                                 p. 316
--my comments below--
GSPaul showed that there are numerous similarities between _Proceratosaurus_ 
and _Ornitholestes_, and this was part of the reason he began restoring the 
latter with a small median horn.  More recently, I think Currie (et al.?) 
have suggested that the median structure in _Proceratosaurus_ may actually 
represent a midline crest rather than a horn (sorry, don't have the ref with 
me), a convergence with _Monolophosaurus_.  I believe that the mandible is 
shallower in _Proceratosaurus_ than in _Ornitholestes_.  Anyone feel free to 
correct me if I'm wrong, but I *think* that many now regard this taxon as 
and indeterminate basal coelurosaur.

Jack

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