Re: New Queensland Dinosaur Fossils (and a Victorian teaser)

[K and T Dykes <ktdykes@arcor.de>]

<<Is it certain that it isn't just another part of *Steropodon*? Is the size
too unexpected for that?>>

The bit of arm is from Dinosaur Cove, while Steropodon hails from Lightning
Ridge in New South Wales, David.  My information suggests both are Albian,
but I don't know how close they are in time.  Matching up a humerus with a
lower jaw with confidence would be tricky, especially as they come from
different faunas.  Anyway, the size of the humerus suggests an animal sized
somewhere between a platypus and an echidna, (which is similar to
Steropodon).  An unusual feature for monotremes is the presence of an
olecranon fossa.  This fascinating piece of information is: a. something I
don't in the least understand; and b. relatively widespread among marsupials
and placentals.

There's also a probable premolar from Dinosaur Cove, and it has at least two
roots.  This is larger than the corresponding teeth in the mouths of
Steropodon and Kollikodon.  Apart from being mammalian, a preciser
identification is presently unachievable.  As the only part of the seam left
to excavate was five metres below sea-level, work stopped in 1994 and is
regarded as complete.  Finding anything else would require new outcrops.

At least, that's what my notes on pages 38-47 of the source say: Rich TH &
Vickers-Rich P (2004), Diversity of Early Cretaceous Mammals from Victoria,
Australia, Chapter 3, Bulletin American Museum of Natural History, 285,
(p.35-53).  That paper is probably still on-line.  The url was
http://diglib1.amnh.org/bulletins/i0003-0090-285-01-0036.pdf .

Mesozoic Mammals?; Monotremata, an internet directory
http://home.arcor.de/ktdykes/monotrem.htm
The Mesozoic - more than just the dinosaur.