Re: Yixian Psittacosaurs

[Josh Smith <smithjb@sas.upenn.edu>]

"Mortensen, Bruce" wrote:

>           Just a quick personal observation - I was in China over the summer
> and had the opportunity to visit sites at Beipiao, several local museums,
> and the IVPP.    I have in front of me a photo of a Yi Xian psittacosaur
> fossil with preserved skin impressions along the humerus which we saw at the
> Yi Zhou Fossil Museum.   While I cannot make assumptions for all
> ornithischians, I can say that the specimen we saw had definite tubercules
> or scales along it's shoulder and upper arm area, with absolutely no
> indication of fibrous decoration.   There were a number of unpublished
> specimens to be seen in China; we can only hope that they get described and
> published in a timely fashion, because there is an awful lot of data to add
> to what we think we know.
>
> Hey, Bruce.   Are you sure these specimens are Yixian and not Jiufotang? One
> of my coauthors, You Hailu, who is a Ph.D. candidate here but is also still
> affiliated with the IVPP confirmed to me yesterday that he still only knows
> of the one specimen from Sihetun.  He just returned from Liaoning a week or
> so ago.  We did actually find a number of specimens from Beipaio district
> that are from the Jiufotang Formation rather than the Yixian.  They are
> preserved in CaCo3 concretions and look at a quick glance very similar to the
> Yiixan silstones that are preserving all these "feathers."  Thoughts?

--
Josh Smith
Department of Earth and Environmental Science
University of Pennsylvania
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