Re: Placement of Segnosauria (was Re: Details on Nanshiungosaurus bohlini)

[Dinogeorge@aol.com]

In a message dated 10/7/00 5:30:13 PM EST, Mickey_Mortimer@email.msn.com 
writes:

<< Tracy Ford wrote-
 
 > I disagree. The jaw is way to small to fit an animal with the body size
 that
 > the skeleton suggests. The manus and claws is too dromaeosaurid for me.
 
 Strange that the skull would be too small when the authors state the dentary
 is 65% of femoral length, which they point out is larger than other
 segnosaurs. >>

I think Tracy meant to say that the dentary is too >big< for the theropod 
suggested by the size of the postcrania. This effect is additionally 
exaggerated because in segnosaurians and in oviraptorosaurians (also in 
ornithomimosaurians) skull length is fairly small relative to femur length, 
when both measurements are reliably known for a taxon.