New Tyrannopaper

["Jerry D. Harris" <jharris@dixie.edu>]

Hi All -

   This just out:

Urban, M.A., and Lamanna, M.C. 2007. Evidence of a giant tyrannosaurid 
(Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Upper Cretaceous (?Campanian) of Montana. 
Annals of the Carnegie Museum 75(4):231-235.

ABSTRACT: We report an isolated right lacrimal of a tyrannosaurid theropod 
dinosaur, probably from the Upper Cretaceous (upper Campanian) Judith River 
Formation of Fergus County, Montana. The lacrimal was originally associated 
with the holotype of the giant crocodylian Deinosuchus rugosus, but was 
later identified as that of a tyrannosaurid. It is of comparable size to the 
corresponding element in the gigantic Maastrichtian tyrannosaurid 
Tyrannosaurus. Moreover, comparison of the lacrimal to those of other 
tyrannosaurids tentatively supports its referral to this genus. 
Consequently, provided that its stratigraphic provenance has been correctly 
identified, the specimen represents the oldest-known North American record 
of a Tyrannosaurus-sized tyrannosaurid, and possibly the most ancient 
occurrence of this genus yet documented.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jerry D. Harris
Director of Paleontology
Dixie State College
Science Building
225 South 700 East
St. George, UT  84770   USA
Phone: (435) 652-7758
Fax: (435) 656-4022
E-mail: jharris@dixie.edu
and     dinogami@gmail.com
http://cactus.dixie.edu/jharris/

"Trying to estimate the divergence times
of fungal, algal or prokaryotic groups on
the basis of a partial reptilian fossil and
protein sequences from mice and humans
is like trying to decipher Demotic Egyptian with
the help of an odometer and the Oxford
English Dictionary."
              -- D. Graur & W. Martin (_Trends
                  in Genetics_ 20[2], 2004)