Neovenator monograph

[mkirkaldy@aol.com]

Posted for Steve Brusatte.

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Dear Colleagues,
I'm happy to report that my monograph of the British Early Cretaceous 
allosauroid Neovenator (written with Roger Benson and Steve Hutt) has 
been published. It may be difficult for many people to get ahold of a 
hard copy, so we have made a pdf that can be downloaded for the next 
few days from the following site:
https://www.bris.ac.uk/fluff/u/gl1903/3RDZao_0UZFFXcTV92YYiAzT/

The pdf is somewhat low res, and a little muddy in places, but should 
do the trick. In particular, I think the plates come out quite well 
considering how large of a file this is.

The citation for the monograph is as follows:
Brusatte, S.L., R.B.J. Benson, and S. Hutt. 2008. The osteology of 
Neovenator salerii  (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Wealden Group 
(Barremian) of the Isle of Wight. Monograph of the Palaeontographical 
Society 162 (631): 1-166.

The abstract is as follows:
Neovenator salerii (Dinosauria: Theropoda), from the Early Cretaceous 
(Barremian) Wessex Formation (Wealden Supergroup) of the Isle of Wight, 
is the most complete large theropod known from Europe. Here we present 
a complete description of the holotype and referred specimens, which 
together comprise approximately 70% of the skeleton. Neovenator 
possesses numerous autapomorphies and clearly belongs to Allosauroidea, 
a clade of basal tetanuran theropods that includes Allosaurus, 
Sinraptor, and the Carcharodontosauridae, a subgroup that contains some 
of the largest known theropods. Several synapomorphies support 
Neovenator as the most basal member of Carcharodontosauridae. These are 
primarily features of the postcranial skeleton, indicating that large 
body size and the highly apomorphic skull of derived 
carcharodontosaurids evolved after changes to the axial and 
appendicular skeleton. This placement suggests that basal 
carcharodontosaurids were more widespread before becoming restricted to 
Gondwana later in their evolution.

Cheers,
Steve Brusatte

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Stephen Brusatte, MSc
American Museum of Natural History
Columbia University, New York
brusatte@gmail.com
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