Re: Three New Neoceratopsians (Bagaceratopsidae Described)

["Jaime Headden" <ja_headden@qilong.8m.com>]

I wrote:

<<Mongolian People's Republic.>>

David Marjanovic (david.marjanovic@gmx.at) wrote:

<Is it still called...?>

  Sadly, the sources Alifanov has may still refer to this country as an annex 
of China, but no, it is just Mongolia or Khalka Mongol
Uls [in Mongolian, according to the Encyclopedia Brittanica Online], or Outer 
Mongolia.

<Is there any real ceratopsian egg shell known?>

  Despite arguments from Tim Donovon, which I beleive are originally placed due 
to referral of some species of *Protoceratopsidovum*
to theropods because they look like troodont eggs from NA, some eggs with 
smooth surface texture and the elongated, more rounded
oval shape has been recovered with *Protoceratops* embryos and hatchlings 
associated. This data is covered in Carpenter's recent
book, "Dinosaur Eggs and Babies," and the data was covered here:

  http://www.cmnh.org/dinoarch/2003Jan/msg00728.html

<<Bagaceratopidae is diagnosed by:  "Nares small.>>

<Plesiomorphy?>

  Most definately. I am working on a schematic series of non-ceratopsid 
marginocephalian/ceratopsian skull series, and every
ceratopsian not including Ceratopsomorpha and *Udanoceratops* has a relatively 
small nares.

<What is missing here?>

  Nothing, this is to refer that the nares and maxillae are not divided by 
contact between premaxilla and lachrymal, as ocvcurs in
*Heterodontosaurus*, Ornithopoda, *Psittacosaurus,* *Magnirostris,* and 
*Hongshanosaurus.*

<<All teeth single-rooted.>>

<Screaming plesiomorphy, no?>

  Most definately.

<<he etymology of the name is clear, referring to the large rostral bone>>

<t isn't clear (to me -- I haven't read the paper either). The -is comes 
straight out of nowhere. I'd have expected, say,
*Magnirostrale*.>

  Okay, I should have appended the phrase used, which did refer to the rostral. 
However, the term "rostri-" implies the nose, and
secondarily the os rostrale. If anything, the name could have been -rostralus 
or -rostralis. -rostris is used to refer passively to
the bone by referring to the nose. I see a roundabout referrence, maybe 
short-sighted, but not objectively wrong, at least, unlike
my usage of

<<palpedral [...] palpedral [...] palpedral [...]; palpedrals>>

<Palpebral. :-)>

  *Sigh* yeah, yeah, yeah :) In my head, I use "d" so it comes across, however 
wrong.

  Cheers,

  Jaime A. Headden

  Little steps are often the hardest to take. We are too used to making leaps 
in the face of adversity, that a simple skip is so
hard to do.  We should all learn to walk soft, walk small, see the world around 
us rather than zoom by it.

  "Innocent, unbiased observation is a myth." --- P.B. Medawar (1969)