Oviraptorosaur Baby Feet

["Jaime A. Headden" <qilongia@yahoo.com>]

  On the subject of preservation of pedal material for
the oviraptorosaur embryo specimen (MGI 100/971),
Norell et al., 1994, described the content of the
remains thusly:

  "The postcranial skeleton includes humeri, the
entire pectoral girdle, most of the left hind limb,
portions of ilia, and the precaudal axial skeleton ...
an eggshell fragment with an articulated tarsus and
non-arctometatarsalian metatarsus, found 4 cm from the
egg, may be from the same specimen." (pg. 780).

  From visual inspection in the original paper and in
Norell et al. 1996, which contains a full-page color
photograph of the specimen, the leg is folded up
against the body, bird-style, but preservation of the
left limb ends at the metatarsus, and the hallux and
distal end of mtII appear to be missing. Proportions
of the limbs are far different than in more mature
specimens of oviraptorosaur, either of *Oviraptor,*
*Chirostenotes,* or *Ingenia.*

refs:

  Norell, Clark, Dashzeveg, Barsbold, Chiappe,
Davidson, McKenna, Perle, and Novacek, 1994. A
theropod dinosaur embryo and the affinities of the
Flaming Cliffs dinosaur eggs. _Science_ 266: 779-782.

  Norell, Gaffney, and Dingus, 1996. Discovering
Dinosaurs [in the American Museum of Natural History].
(Knopf Press, Inc.) pp. 204.

  Currie (1990) and Barsbold and Osmolska (1990) in
_the Dinosauria_.

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