SOME ANSWERS

[Tetanurae@aol.com]

Dino Rampage wrote:
> <<1) Did Thescelosaurus have scutes on its body? I've seen many 
> reconstructions with its flanks covered in armour, but I've also seen some 
> without. Are the scutes on Thescelosaurus genuine or is it perhaps tan 
> artifact of preservation (say, ankylosaur armour being deposited together 
> with the thescelosaurus skeleton)>>


No.  The few scutes found with Thescelosaurus specimens have been re-interpreted as belonging to crocodilians.  As far as I know, the fantasticly preserved Willow specimen (the one with the heart, remember) doesn't have any, so scutes are all but ruled out.  The only other "hypsilophodontid" with scutes is Hypsilophodon itself, but again, these scutes have been interpreted as belonging to crocodilians.
> <<2) Are heterodontosaurs basal ornithischians, basal ornithopods, or basal 
> marginocephalians? Jamie A. Headden seems to think they're the possible 
> ancestors of pachycephalosaurs, but others seem to place them as either 
> basal Cerapoda or outside Cerapoda itself>>


Well that depends on who you ask.

Maryanska and Osmolska 1984, and Cooper 1985 found:

--+--+--Heterodontosauridae
  |  `--+--Pachycephalosauria
  |     `--Ceratopia
  `--Ornithopoda

Maryanska and Osmolska 1985 found (notice the subtle difference):

--+--Heterodontosauridae
  `--+--+--Ceratopia
     |  `--Pachycephalosauria
     `--Ornithopoda

Sereno 1984 and 1986 found:

--+--+--Ceratopia
  |  `--Pachycephalosauria
  `--+--Heterodontosauridae
     `--+--Hypsilophodontidae
        `--Iguanodontia

Their position as basal ornithopods IMHO is highly suspect and based on improperly coded characters.

Tim Williams wrote:
<<Apparently the notion that _Brontosaurus_ made a noise like thunder when it
walked wasn't what Marsh had in mind when he named this beastie*.  I believe
Marsh was after something more evocative than literal with the
"bronto/bronte" root.  In the same way, I don't think Marsh had in mind a
beast that made a thunderous noise with its face when he named _Brontops_.>>

When I was very young I had a book that stated the name Brontosaurus was in reference to a Native American legend that claimed that giant bones found in the Rockies were supposed to be of giant thunder horses, hence "thunder lizard."  Knowing the general state of mind of Americans at the end of the 19th century insisting on "civilizing the savage Indians," this seems more than a little suspect to me, but is it based in any fact?

IN other news: in April 2000 I reported that the US Treasury is finally joining the 19th century and will manufacture colorful banknotes:

http://www.cmnh.org/dinoarch/2000Apr/msg00434.html

This was based on a report made by the Monetary Research Institute in Dallas, TX.  The Treaury Department has finally bothered to have a press conference on this matter and a report of it can be found at:

http://www.usatoday.com/money/general/2002/06/21/twenties.htm

Pete Buchholz
Tetanurae@aol.com