Texas Tech, Journal of Paleo, Alamosaurus

[jonathan.r.wagner@mail.utexas.edu]

Ben Creisler wrote:
>LEHMAN, THOMAS M. and ALAN B. COULSON
>A JUVENILE SPECIMEN OF THE SAUROPOD DINOSAUR ALAMOSAURUS 
>SANJUANENSIS FROM THE UPPER CRETACEOUS OF BIG BEND 
>NATIONAL PARK, TEXAS
>Journal of Paleontology: Vol. 76, No. 1, pp. 156-172.

     Wow! Ben sure is on top of things. I was planning to foreshadow this paper 
on the list today.

     I just thought I'd throw in the comment that this is but the first in what 
will (hopefully) become a continuous stream of publications out of Texas Tech 
over the next several years (actually, in most cases, one of the authors has 
moved on to green pastures, but the work was done at TTU). This work represents 
the heyday of the nearly departed vertebrate paleontology program in Lubbock, 
and you will be hearing more from these people in the future (well, my 
contributions depend on my successfully finishing the Amphibian Systematics 
course that is currently the bane of my existance :).

     As an aside, it has come to my attention that some vertebrate 
paleontologists do not consider the Journal of Paleontology to be worth their 
time or money. Lemme tell you, especially if you are a student, you couldn't be 
more wrong! A subscription to BOTH JP (6 issues) AND Paleobiology (four issues) 
runs you something like $55 a year (roughly the same as JVP for a FOUR issue 
volume). Almost every issue of both JP and PB has at least one vertebrate 
paper, and they are frequently of very high quality. In addition, Paleobiology 
habitually publishes papers on "big picture" issues of interest to everyone in 
the field. And the invertebrate systematics papers (and interminable 
stratocladistics papers) make good entertainment.

>(Note: The article provides a new skeletal reconstruction 
>of Alamosaurus)
     It also has oh so much more than that. This is going to be THE difinitive 
work on Alamosaurus for some time to come. Not that that is hard to do, given 
the lack of attention given to this animal. However, Coulson and Lehman have 
worked hard to address this animal in the context of recent sauropod 
discoveries, something I'm sure listmembers will appreciate. The specimen in 
question is fantastic. It preserves cervicals (!), and may be the most complete 
specimen known (I don't recall offhand). This is the genuine article, a paper 
on a specimen of Alamosaurus, excavated, prepared, and described by 
professionals. Accept no substitutes.

     The reconstruction is pretty cool, too. 

     Wagner