Re: Ceratosaurus willisobrienorum

["Jaime A. Headden" <qilongia@yahoo.com>]

Stephan Pickering (StephanPickering@cs.com) wrote:

<On 4 April 1996, I published King Kong: unauthorized Jewish fractals in 
philopatry (Capitola, California: A Fractal Scaling in Dinosaurology
Project). Copies of this (on high-quality, "glossy" paper, etc.) were
distributed by Mike Fredericks with copies of his Prehistoric Times
throughout the world.>

  My question: what companies and/or institutions received this and where
is it indexed? I am to understand that the Library of Congress should at
least have _one_ copy, rather than pulling it off of one's own printer and
giving it to friends. Even Olshevsky's work is indexed. My recommendation
is, however, to restrict publication to institution or federal documents
and those publications which possess an ISBN or ISSN number.

<"...Ceratosaurus may be defined as that Neoceratosauria taxon having: 
premaxilla-maxilla fenestra; lacrimal fenestra; rostral prong of angular
contacts dentary-splenial concavity; humerus sigmoid in cranial view;
anterior blade of ilium dorsoventrally expanded; metatarsals proximally
fused.">

  Huh ... most of these features are more plesiomorphic to *Ceratosaurus*,
are present through Theropoda, or are more general within Ceratosauria
than given. Also by this definition, *Syntarsus* is *Ceratosaurus*. *C.
dentisulcatus* and *C. magnicornis* also lack the sigmoid humerus and the
proximal metatarsal fusion, which in the type of *Ceratosaurus nasicornis*
is a result of a pathology.

<"Within the Ceratosaurus hypodigm is another, larger species (Tithonian, 
Brushy Basin Member Morrison Formation) from Fruita, Colorado and Utah's 
Cleveland-Lloyd Quarry), Ceratosaurus willisobrienorum sp. nov."

 ... For the record, on the same page I cite as the type specimen of my
species  MWC 1, and the referred specimen is the UUVP disarticulated
specimen (numbers listed). My diagnosis on page 13 of my publication:

"...a Ceratosaurus with premaxilla L:H index 80, Pm 3/M15, caudal spines 
higher and persist farther beyond transition point than C. nasicornis, and
the apexes of the spines have no thickening.">

  Nearly all of Welles and Madsen's diagnostic features for the two new
species are size-related. These specimens are so much larger than any
other specimen of *Ceratosaurus*, and indicate the "genus" was well over
30 feet in length. Of course it will exhibit features in older age not
present in younger animals. Such a condition is seen in other theropods,
including tyrannosaurids, ornithomimids, and troodontids, where ontogeny
brings a great deal of changes in specimens. Also, individual variation is
not taken into account. 

<Four years after my publication (2000 C.E.) James Madsen released a
poorly illustrated monograph,>

  Two details: one, it was Welles and Madsen, not just Madsen; and two, it
is hardly poorly illustrated. They are very good illustrations that are
sadly lacking in recent paleontological works, with probably the exception
of work in Thomas Carr's 1999 paper in _JVP_ which are carbon dust
illustrations and top of the line.

=====
Jaime A. Headden

  Little steps are often the hardest to take.  We are too used to making leaps 
in the face of adversity, that a simple skip is so hard to do.  We should all 
learn to walk soft, walk small, see the world around us rather than zoom by it.

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