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Texas Tech, Journal of Paleo, Alamosaurus
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