Eshanosaurus deguchiianus

["Heathcote, Julia" <julia.heathcote@imperial.ac.uk>]

Just wondering what list members think about Eshanosaurus and its place
within dinosaur phylogeny.

I know Xu et al (2001, JVP 21(3): 477-483) published good reasons why it was
a therizinosauroid, but they reported that some people would have said it
was a prosauropod.  I know nothing about the tooth and jaw characters used
to define it, but it seems odd that a fragment that could initially be
confused with a prosauropod is found below a prosauropod horizon some 80 Ma
before the first therizinosauroids and NOT be a prosauropod.

If I'm talking rubbish please tell me (and then forgive me).  This is NOT my
speciality, but it's been worrying me for a few days now.  If it is a
therizinosauroid has there been any further work on the implications for
theropod evolution?  Where is the massive early Jurassic explosion of
theropod taxa that surely would have to accompany this?

Julia

Julia Heathcote
The Natural History Museum
Cromwell Road
South Kensington
London SW7 5BD