BASAL TYRANNOSAURS

[darren.naish@port.ac.uk]

On non-tyrannosaurid tyrannosauroids, Tracy wrote...

> Dan Chure and I did a poster at last years SVP about Morrison
> Tyrannosaurids (based on teeth and Stokesaurus, and one tooth that
> Bakker referred to Dromaeosauridae but it's a Tyrannosauroid) and
> premaxillary tooth from Guimorta Portugal (I want to get the paper
> published but need to figure out where to have it done). Tom Holtz
> (maybe et al, I haven't added last years papers to my data base yet,
> but have been able to start) has also mentioned this (possibly Thomas
> Carr also). These were small, possibly small coelurosaur sized
> animals. Allosaurus was the top predator at the time.

Tyrannosauroid material (teeth and an ilium) from 
Guimarota has been figured/described by Zinke (1998, 
_Palaontologische Zeitschrift_ 72, 179-189) and Rauhut (in 
_Guimarota: a Jurassic Ecosystem_). Zinke described the 
teeth as tyrannosaurid: however, there is no evidence for 
this (i.e. they are probably instead from non-tyrannosaurid 
tyrannosauroids). Tracy has also referred to non-
tyrannosaurid tyrannosauroids as tyrannosaurids (e.g. in 
_Prehistoric Times_). 

These specimens and others are discussed in Tom's review 
of tyrannosaur phylogeny in _Mesozoic Vertebrate Life_ 
and also in my paper on _Eotyrannus_ (2001, _Cretaceous 
Research_ 22, 227-242). Incidentally I have heard rumours 
that the Guimarota _Stokesosaurus_ material is to be given 
its own taxon - don't know how reliable this is though. As 
for _Eotyrannus_, new prep work has revealed lots of new 
detail.. will still be a while before we can publish it though.

Tracy, there are plenty of journals that would accept your 
paper - how ready is it to submit?

Darren Naish
School of Earth & Environmental Sciences
University of Portsmouth
Burnaby Building
Burnaby Road                           email: 
darren.naish@port.ac.uk
Portsmouth UK                          tel: 023 92846045                   
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