Re: 'BIG MONSTER DIG', EPISODE 1

[darren.naish@port.ac.uk]

On the Channel 4 'Big Monster Dig' programme, Chris 
Benzinski asked...

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BTW, Darren: which conclusions were you unhappy with? 
the specious  conclusions made after the Bernissart jaunt?
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Well, I didn't want to mention these but seeing as you ask...

1) I didn't mention this in the previous email (because 
putting doubt on this matter makes the main conclusion of 
the programme err, suspect) but the identification of the 
_Iguanodon_ as an _I. bernissartensis_ was doubtful: 
though this was based on a pubis (which has a diagnostic 
shape in both _I. bernissartensis_ and _I. atherfieldensis_), 
the parts of the pubis needed for differentiation (the 
prepubic process and shaft of the pubis) were both missing! 
While the partial pubis they had did match that of the 
Bernissart skeletons in size and shape, so might that of other 
iguanodontian species from the Hastings Group (e.g., 
'_Iguanodon' dawsoni_). And why didn't they look at _'I.' 
dawsoni_? The holotype (in the sub-basement of the 
Natural History Museum, London) is from Hastings!! (i.e., 
the same location as the new find).

2) It was claimed that baryonychid teeth were present in 
Dave Brockhurt's collection. They are (pers. comm.), but 
the tooth shown was most certainly not from a baryonychid.

-- 
Darren Naish
School of Earth & Environmental Sciences
University of Portsmouth UK, PO1 3QL

email: darren.naish@port.ac.uk
tel: 023 92846045