Re: Two New Dinosaurs

[Tim Williams <twilliams_alpha@hotmail.com>]

Tom Holtz wrote:

>    Individual teeth are up to 75 mm wide and 140 mm tall. (It apprently 
> didn't get the memo that > iguanodontians were increasing the number of 
> tooth positions, since it has only 14 dentary tooth > positions).


The rebbachisaurids got that memo by mistake.  ;-)  I haven't seen the 
_Lanzhousaurus_ paper yet, but I wonder what those big choppers were used 
for.

As for _Auroraceratops_ (the second of the "Two New Dinosaurs"), yes, it is 
cute as a button.  The name refers to its status as an early neoceratopsian 
(Latin "aurora" = dawn), and also honors Dawn Dodson, wife to Peter Dodson.  
("Eoceratops", which means the same thing, was taken;  but _Auroraceratops_ 
sounds so much cooler, anyway.)  _Auroraceratops_'s "fungiform" lacrimal 
mentioned in the paper apparently refers to the overall shape of this 
element, which is swollen and shaped somewhat like a mushroom stuck side-on 
in front of each orbit.  Quite impressive.  The analysis recovers 
_Auroraceratops_ as sister taxon to the Coronosauria (_Protoceratops_ + 
_Triceratops_).

Cheers

Tim