RE: Alioramus

["Thomas R. Holtz, Jr." <tholtz@geol.umd.edu>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-dinosaur@usc.edu [mailto:owner-dinosaur@usc.edu]On Behalf Of
> dbensen
> Sent: Monday, September 06, 1999 12:55 PM
> To: dinosaur@usc.edu
> Subject: Alioramus
>
>
> Okay, let's get into the nitty-gritty.
>
> For my webpage, I'm doing an essay on Alioramus an I have been able to
> find very little information on the beast (probably becuase all my books
> are on display at the public library).
>
> I know that it was a derived, primitive tyrannosaur of  late Creatacious
> Asia (so it shared it's habitat with therizinosaurs, velociraptors,
> oviraptors, and advanced tyrannosaurs, right?).  It was small and
> slender with then enlarged scales on its snout and a large number of
> teeth for a tyrannosaur.
>
> That isn't much of any essay.
> Is there anything more anybody can tell me?

Well, some of its braincase features suggest it is closer to the most
advanced tyrannosaurs, _Tyrannosaurus rex_ and _Tyrannosaurus (sometimes
Tarbosaurus) bataar_.  Other parts of its braincase are a bit weird (if the
original descriptions are accurate).

A partial foot is known for _Alioramus_: this looks just like other
tyrannosaur feet.

Oh, and "small" is a realtive term: the skull length would have been about
450 mm (almost 18 inches), which is fairly big for a lot of other groups of
predators.  Furthermore, the age status (adult? juvenile?) is uncertain:
this could be a young _Alioramus_, so that adults were much larger.

Hope this helps.

                Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
                Vertebrate Paleontologist
Department of Geology           Director, Earth, Life & Time Program
University of Maryland          College Park Scholars
                College Park, MD  20742
http://www.geol.umd.edu/~tholtz/tholtz.htm
http://www.inform.umd.edu/SCHOLAR/programs/elt.html
Phone:  301-405-4084    Email:  tholtz@geol.umd.edu
Fax (Geol):  301-314-9661       Fax (CPS-ELT): 301-405-0796