Re: Morrison Sauropods\etc. (long)

["Mickey Mortimer" <Mickey_Mortimer11@msn.com>]

Darryl Jones wrote-

> I have
> also heard that Amphicoelias is likely not valid.  The "distinct femur"
has
> been showing up attached to Diplodocus specimens and maybe the neural arch
> was pathological.

I'd be interested to know the reference for finding femora with circular
cross sections in Diplodocus.

> You are not counting Bakker et al's megalosaurs, which would
> bring the number of giants higher.

Edmarka and "Brontoraptor" are thought by some to be synonymous with
Torvosaurus.  The situation certainly needs more study.  Of course there are
the other normal-sized allosaurs- Allosaurus sp. (Chure and Madsen, 1996),
"Wyomingraptor", "Madsenius" and a couple unnamed species (Bybee and Smith
1999, Hand and Bakker 2000).  At least a few of these are probably valid.
Two other species of Ceratosaurus (C. dentisulcatus, C. magnicornis) are
also known, although there's a good chance they are synonyms of C.
nasicornis.

Mickey Mortimer