Re: Oviraptor

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

Jaime Headden wrote:

> Lü designated his Chinese find as *Ingenia* on the basis of the pelvis
> and sacrum, and to some degree, he is very pertinent on this: based only on 
> the
> hand, *Ingenia* compares well to *Heyuannia*, but its skull is largely 
> unknown,
> so it may have had the crest (only *Conchoraptor* and *Khaan* certainly 
> didn't
> have one), and Lü's find may pertain to *Ingenia*

Lü (2002) distinguish _Heyuannia_ from _Ingenia_ by the fusion of 
metacarpals I and II to each other and to the semilunate carpal (i.e., an 
incipient carpometacarpus); the presence of an additional sacral vertebra 
(to give a total of eight, compared to seven in _Ingenia_); and the overall 
shape of the ilium (iliac postacetabular process is sharply pointed, and the 
dorsal margin of the ilium is gently convex dorsally).  Lü's (2002) 
description was preliminary, and the _Ingenia yanshini_ material will 
certainly be extremely relevant to a more comprehensive description of 
_Heyuannia huangi_.

> after all, as both possess a supernumerary sacral count, otherwise seen in 
> the "caenagnathid?" *Nomingia.*

I thought _Nomingia_ only had five sacral vertebrae - putting it at the low 
end of the oviraptorosaur range.




Tim

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