Re: CRETACEOUS STEGOSAURS

["Tim Williams" <twilliams_alpha@hotmail.com>]

Darren Naish wrote:

> >From the Early Cretaceous of England comes _Craterosaurus_ 
> (?=_Regnosaurus_).
> ----------------------
>
> If these two are synonyms then you have it the wrong way round (though 
> seeing as both should best be treated as nomina dubia this cannot of course 
> be demonstrated).

I put _Craterosaurus_ first because it's been regarded as a stegosaurid for 
quite a while now (once the "braincase" was identified as a vertebra).  
_Regnosaurus_ was regarded as a sauropod (possibly the same as 
_Chondrosteosaurus_, e.g., McIntosh [1990]) before Barrett and Upchurch 
(1995) recognized it as a stegosaurian (a huaynagosaurid, if memory serves).

As Darren notes, stegosaurs were globally distributed in the Early 
Cretaceous.  Outside of Asia, EK stegosaurs are known only from fragmentary 
material.  I don't know of any Late Cretaceous stegosaur material - unless 
the Lameta taxon _Brachypodosaurus gravis_ (usually regarded as an 
ankylosaur) is a stegosaur, as once thought.



Tim

_________________________________________________________________
Help STOP SPAM with the new MSN 8 and get 2 months FREE*  
http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail