RE: Ornitholestes

["Jordan Mallon" <j_mallon@hotmail.com>]

> From: "Williams, Tim" <TiJaWi@agron.iastate.edu>

> That's a big "IF".  To be sure, they're both Coelurosauria - but, >apart 
> from Paul (1988), I don't think any other author has found >support for an 
> exclusive _Ornitholestes_ + _Proceratosaurus clade.  No >cladistic analysis 
> (AFAIK) has found support for such a clade - at >least not recently.

Fair enough.  I'm going off Paul's (1988) illustrations of the two animals 
in saying that they both look so alike.  Is it possible that perhaps their 
skulls weren't as similar as Paul illustrates?  Because they both look very 
alike.

> Sometimes different sexes of the same species, and different >ontogenetic 
> stages of the same species, vary greatly in the expression >of prominent 
> cranial features.  Ceratopsians and hadrosaurs are >notorious for this; 
> we're just scratching the surface for the >Theropoda.

Also fair enough.  But is it possible to rule out the lacking of a horn as a 
juvenile trait among either of the two?  What with bone sutures, fusions, 
and what have you?

Just curious,

Jordan Mallon

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