A critique of Lu et al.'s (2002) Oviraptorosaurs compared to birds
Mickey Mortimer <Mickey_Mortimer111 <at> msn.com>
2002-11-01 06:47:27 GMT
While at SVP, Lu was nice enough to give me a copy of his paper-
Lu, Dong, Azuma, Barsbold and Tomida, 2002. Oviraptorosaurs compared to
birds. in Zhou and Zhang eds., Proceedings of the 5th Symposium of the
Society of Avian Paleontology and Evolution. Beijing Science Press, pg.
175-189.
This is another paper advocating avian oviraptorosaurs, along the lines of
Maryanska et al. 2002. Unfortunately, it has many of the same problems.
The most important aspect of the paper is the illustration of the skull,
sacrum and partial pelvis of IGM 100/2112, an oviraptorid labeled Ingenia
sp., which looks to me more like Citipati. Jaime Headden confirmed it was
most similar to IGM 100/42, which has been termed Citipati sp. (though still
called Oviraptor philoceratops by Lu et al.). It was discovered in the
Nemegt Formation of Mongolia in 1996, and described in Lu's 1999 thesis.
Scans of the photos can be sent to those who request them.
Lu et al. detail nine "new characters" shared between oviraptorids and
birds. I should mention they include oviraptorids, Chirostenotes (as
Caenagnathus, they seem to ignore "elmisaurid" postcrania) and Nomingia in
Oviraptorosauria, but not Caudipteryx. No mention is made of Microvenator.
1. Premaxillae fused and with elongate frontal process that extends
posteriorly to lacrimal.
Fused premaxillae are found in pygostylians, but their presence in
oviraptorids is not so clear. Although Clark et al. (2002) describe
Citipati's premaxillae as fused, a clear suture is visible between the
elements on both their ventral and anterior surfaces. This is the only
oviraptorid skull illustrated/described well enough to determine the
condition in. However, Osmolska (1976) illustrated the juvenile crestless
skull ZPAL MgD-I/95 with a median suture, as did Barsbold et al. (1990) for
Conchoraptor and ventrally for Citipati sp. (IGM 100/42).
The second character is variable within oviraptorids (eg. absent in Khaan,
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