Re: Notes on Rebbachisaurs and Tehuelchesaurus (less longish)

["Mickey Mortimer" <mickey_mortimer@email.msn.com>]

Dann Pigdon wrote-

> I think it was on purely biogeographic grounds. Has anyone actually
bothered to
> study that single metacarpal and compare it to abelisaurs?

The only abelisaurid metacarpal I known is that of Carnotaurus, which
doesn't resemble Rapator in the least.  Whether the bone in Carnotaurus is
really metacarpal I or another metacarpal or phalanx is hard to tell, but if
Bonaparte et al.'s assignment is correct, Carnotaurus has:
- a much stouter first metacarpal
- no elongate proximomedial process
- a symmetrical distal end without a strong intercondylar groove
Rapator really resembles Allosaurus, Coelurus, therizinosaurs and
dromaeosaurids more than other theropods for which metacarpal I has been
well figured.  I think it is more likely a tetanurine than an abelisaur.

Mickey Mortimer