Re: Dinosaur Genera List corrections #168

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

George Olshevsky wrote-

> As to what kind of theropod it is, I have rather little idea, since
> we really need some postcranial material to help classify it. Perhaps
> Chatterjee's family Shuvosauridae really does belong in the
Ornithomimosauria
> after all. If not, would that then make Shuvosaurus an ornithomimimimic?

Rauhut classifies it as a coelophysoid for his thesis, based on characters
already mentioned-
http://www.cmnh.org/fun/dinosaur-archive/2001Jul/msg00952.html .  In any
case, even if you doubt those characters, it was not an ornithomimosaur.
Rauhut writes- "Shuvosaurus lacks several ornithomimosaur synapomorphies,
such as the presence of an expanded parasphenoid capsule, and the short and
broad basipterygoid processes (e.g. Barsbold & Osmolska 1990). Differences
between Shuvosaurus and coelurosaurs in general are the relatively small
endocranial cavity, the lack of two accessory antorbital openings in the
maxillary, and the presence of a ventral groove, rather than a deep ventral
pocket, as it is found in coelurosaurs (e.g. Barsbold & Osmolska 1990,
Currie 1995), on the ectopterygoid. Furthermore, Shuvosaurus differs from
all tetanurans in that the prefrontal is largely exposed on the anterior rim
of the orbit, while it is displaced posteriorly and often medially in all
tetanurans."  So whatever sort of theropod it is, it is probably
non-tetanurine.

Mickey Mortimer