tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9107291904794625632.post1269094762831676359..comments2023-10-29T06:50:22.166-04:00Comments on Love in the Time of Chasmosaurs: A Visit with Two DomeheadsUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9107291904794625632.post-24742799592300739802012-04-30T22:54:36.045-04:002012-04-30T22:54:36.045-04:00Beautiful...Beautiful...Nateehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15869685234493116483noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9107291904794625632.post-67334012620809212252012-02-11T22:05:22.196-05:002012-02-11T22:05:22.196-05:00"Hopefully, Robert Bakker will soon publish d..."Hopefully, Robert Bakker will soon publish descriptions of the fossils that will put Horner's idea to rest, as he's reported to hold."<br /><br />Hasn't Bakker already done so (See the following quotes)? I figured Horner was just ignoring relevant/contradictory evidence (as usual).<br /><br />Quoting Bakker et al. (See "DISCUSSION": http://uuu.childrensmuseum.org/themuseum/dinosphere/draco_rex/dracorex_hogwartsia.pdf ): "Dracorex hogwartsia is most similar to Stygimoloch spinifer and to<br />a lesser extent Pachycephalosaurus wyomingensis. It is considered to be a<br />member of the Pachycephalosaurini as defined by Sullivan (2003). However,<br />it is readily distinguishable from these two taxa based on a number of<br />key features. Stygimoloch spinifer is characterized by a huge spike cluster,<br />consisting of 3 enlarged (hypertrophied) spikes. This differs from the shorter<br />4 spike arrangement in Dracorex hogwartsia. Galton and Sues (1983)<br />characterized Stygimoloch spinifer as having three-to-four spikes on the<br />squamosal. This characterization allowed them to include a smaller, isolated<br />squamosal with four spikes (YPM 335), a specimen we here consider<br />to be referable to Dracorex hogwartsia. We have been able to determine,<br />based on comparison with other documented specimens of<br />Stygimoloch spinifer (MPM 7111 and MPM 8111), and two undescribed<br />specimens in private collections, that S. spinifer consistently has these enlarged<br />spikes coupled with an incipient, laterally compressed dome, made<br />up of only the frontals and parietal. S. spinifer lacks open supratemporal<br />fenestrae. Moreover, these skulls are of the same size as the holotype of<br />Dracorex hogwartsia, so we conclude that these differences are not the<br />result of ontogenetic development."<br /><br />Quoting Bakker et al. (See "DISCUSSION": http://uuu.childrensmuseum.org/themuseum/dinosphere/draco_rex/dracorex_hogwartsia.pdf ): "Flat-headed pachycephalosaurids include the Asian taxa<br />Homalocephale calathocercos, Goyocephale lattimorei, and<br />Wannanosaurus yansiensis (Sereno, 2000). Prior to this discovery of<br />Dracorex hogwartsia, the only semi-flat headed pachycephalosaurid from<br />North America was Stegoceras validum (which includes the flat-headed<br />Ornatotholus browni), and the flat-headed nature of this taxon is only demonstrable<br />in juveniles of the species (Sullivan 2003, 2005, 2006). Some<br />specimens of S. validum retain a well-developed parietosquamosal shelf<br />and moderate-sized supratemporal fenestrae (Sullivan, 2003, fig. 2). D.<br />hogwartsia, however, has a skull that is totally flat, with no hint of doming.<br />Although the specimen is considered to represent a young adult, we believe,<br />based on the beginning of coosification of mid-cervical arch with<br />centrum, that the animal was probably near maturity."Hadiazhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10805346627826158173noreply@blogger.com