Re: Fwd: Dinosaur Dreaming 2000: Flat Rocks Site Report

[Dann Pigdon <dannj@alphalink.com.au>]

Sara Carmichael wrote:
> 
> IN RESPONSE TO: Dann Pigdon
> 
> I found this posting very interesting indeed.
> 
> >>Dr Tom Rich gave a brilliant lecture on the mammal remains from the
> >>site, which now number a dozen individual fossils. Three more
> >>Ausktribosphenos jaws were found in 2000, as well as a new jaw that
> >>indicates a new genus and species of Ausktribosphenid (hopefully to be
> >>published soon in Nature by Tom Rich
> 
> Dan, did Tom comment at all upon the hedgehog affinities of
> Ausktribosphenos?  I know molecular phylogenists are excited about this
> because they claim that the Erinaceidae (hedgehog family) comes out basal to
> all other placentals.  It'll be interesting to see where this goes.
> 

He still maintains that the teeth are most remiscent of the Erinaceidae.
Apparently the teeth reminded him of something he remembered from his
PhD thesis on mammals. On looking back through it, he found that
hedgehog teeth bore a striking resemblance. During the lecture he showed
us slides of some of the micro-continents that were once a part of
northern Australia during the Late Jurassic, and that eventually
"docked" with Asia during the Late Cretaceous (after which the
Erinaceidae are known in the Old World). As Tom Rich points out, this is
scientific speculation at its best. No actual fossil evidence to support
the rafting theory, but at least it's plausible.

-- 
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Dann Pigdon                   Australian Dinosaurs:
GIS Archaeologist           http://dannsdinosaurs.terrashare.com
Melbourne, Australia        http://www.alphalink.com.au/~dannj/
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