Re: Just following the trend of questioning...

["Mickey Mortimer" <Mickey_Mortimer111@msn.com>]

Nick Gardner wrote-

> 1)  Will there be more information published on the new Eichstatt
> coelurosaur?  I've heard that it might be troodontid.  Why?  Does anyone
> know anything more?

Looks very much like Scipionyx to me, especially in the lacrimal and
antorbital fossa shape.  It's only about a third larger though, so these
resemblences may be due to them both being juveniles.  It does not look
troodontid, judging by the elongate teeth, anteriorly placed antorbital
fossa without long maxillary fenestra, unreduced ventral nasal process and
large prefrontal.

> 2)  Did the truth ever come out about Avimimus and its supposed
premaxillary
> teeth?  Are they just serrated margins or are they really teeth?

Kurzanov (1985) described them as-
"One of their extremely distinctive features is the denticulation on their
anterior margin.  This consists not of small denticles, but of separate
large teeth 1.5-2.0 mm high, with slightly dissected margins.  Each bone
bears five such teeth.  It is not altogether clear whether these denticles
reflected the shape of the horny beak..."
Jaime noted (http://www.cmnh.org/dinoarch/2001Sep/msg00699.html) that
Kurzanov used the word "zubov" for tooth, which can also refer to anything
toothlike.  The structures illustrated by Kurzanov don't look like teeth to
me.
Watabe et al. (2000) report, "there are small teeth in the premaxilla".
Can anyone who was at SVP 2000 clear this up?

> 3)  What ever happened with the mating oviraptorid specimen?

I've heard nothing else.

> 4)  I was reading an article by HP Darren Naish (I think?) entitled "Birds
> Of A Feather".  About so far in, a South African ichnotaxon named
> Masitisisauropus is mentioned. Apparently it preserves feather imprints
that
> fan out around the hands and feet.  Is any other information known on this
> creature?

I've heard the supposed feather imprints are not clearly visible.  You
wouldn't expect feathers fanning out from around the feet anyway.... (oh no!
I sound like Feduccia!)

> 5)  Did phorusrhacoids have hyper-extendible second pedal digits?

No, according to Paul (2002).

> 6)  Luis Rey's new painting of Deinonychus includes a quote from a paper
by
> Alan Gishlick in which a special design is found in the hands of
> Archaeopteryx, Confuciusornis, Deinonychus, and Velociraptor that allows
the
> third finger to be used in the place of the second finger.  Regardless,
the
> quote also mentions that it is possibly found in Protarchaeopteryx and
> Caudipteryx.  It is in Caudipteryx, but how about Protarchaeopteryx?  Is
it
> found in any other taxa aside from the ones already mentioned?

Protarchaeopteryx has digit III preserved crossing under digit II, so it
would presumedly also have this morphology.  Caudipteryx only has two short
phalanges on digit III, but Gishlick (2001) notes its third digit also
underlies its primary feathers.  I'm unaware of any other taxa preserved
with digit III crossing digit II, but this is only seen some specimens of
Confuciusornis, so this does not mean much.

> 7)  Is any information known on "Sidormimus"?  Is it an ornithomimosaur?

Apparently it's about a meter long and known from a slender neck, ribcage
and hindlimb.  I can't tell anything from the photo, but no reason to
believe it's ornithomimosaurian (Sereno et al. also named a spinosaurid
Suchomimus if you recall).

Mickey Mortimer