Spinosaurid anatomy (was RE: Horner's JP3 interview)

["Thomas R. Holtz, Jr." <tholtz@geol.umd.edu>]

> From: owner-dinosaur@usc.edu [mailto:owner-dinosaur@usc.edu]On Behalf Of
> Jura
>
> _Suchomimus tenerensis_ was a very specialized baryonychine who's
> skull anatomy would have lended itself well to a piscivorous
> existence (more so than the other spinosaurs) and is probably the
> *worst* archetype for a spinosaur.
>

To one and all:

Be careful in your interpretations of spinosaurids here, in particular in
considering what anatomical features are unique to _Suchomimius_ and what
are more broadly distributed among spinosaurids.  By far the best preserved
spinosaurid skull (that of _Irritator_) is undergoing a major reanalysis
with hopes to address problems of previous reconstructions of the skulls of
other spinosaurids.  Some features which might have been thought unique to
one genus or another may actually be more broadly distributed in this clade.

And Josh Smith said:

>Agreed, though..I too tend to get a little tired of people calling _S.
aegyptiacus_ an
>obligate piscivore...we have SO much data supporting that...

Just wondering where you've found anyone whose suggested that?  All previous
statements I can recall concerning _Spino._ in particular or spinosaurids in
general (Charig, Milner, me, Sereno, etc.) have suggested only that these
guys may have ate more fish than did typical theropods, and have
acknowledged that the evidence is equally good for feeding on dinosaurs.

                Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
                Vertebrate Paleontologist
Department of Geology           Director, Earth, Life & Time Program
University of Maryland          College Park Scholars
                College Park, MD  20742
http://www.geol.umd.edu/~tholtz/tholtz.htm
http://www.geol.umd.edu/~jmerck/eltsite
Phone:  301-405-4084    Email:  tholtz@geol.umd.edu
Fax (Geol):  301-314-9661       Fax (CPS-ELT): 301-405-0796