Re: Dromaeosauridae names, please!

["Mickey_Mortimer" <Mickey_Mortimer@email.msn.com>]

Brent Jones wrote-

Oh, my mistake - I was confusing _Utahraptor_ and _Megaraptor_. Has
_Megaraptor_ been officially assigned as the species name? Also, what was
wrong with the name "Spielberg's raptor"? Given the size of the
velociraptors in JP...

You're out of luck again I'm afraid.  We also lack wrist bones for
Megaraptor, which is known from even less material than Utahraptor- ulna,
manual phalanx I-1, distal metatarsal III and pedal ungual II.  The species
is M. namunhuaiquii by the way.  As for if it's dromaeosaurid or not, I'm
not sure.  The ulna has a few primitive characters, but the ungual looks
dromaeosaurid.  "Kitadanisaurus" and an unnamed form from the Bajo Barreal
Formation (Martinez, Lamanna, Smith, Casal and Luna 1999) are suposed to be
very similar.  Perhaps when these are described, we'll have a better idea of
what Megaraptor is.  And what's wrong with Utahraptor "spielbergi"?
Spielberg's lawyers apparently weren't too happy with the idea.  See
reference below.
http://www.cmnh.org/fun/dinosaur-archive/1997Nov/msg00113.html

Mickey Mortimer