Have a look at the cover of the latest newsletter of the PSSA (Palaeontological Society of South Africa). This is one of two new skulls of Heterodontosaurus that Billy De Klerk has found in the Elliot Formation of South Africa. It seems Billy is O.K. with showing them off to the world before he publishes on them, so I don't think there should be any problem with me posting this picture here. Things to note: the premaxilla fails to contact the lacrimal (a lacrimal-premaxilla contact was one of the proposed characters linking Heterodontosauridae to Ornithopoda)and the angular (ventral edge of the lower jaw) has a Yinlong-like rugose boss. There is a complete postcranium to go with this skull - so we can expect even more information on these rather wierd, early ornithischians in the nearish future.
8 comments:
Wow, does it have a rostral bone too?!?
Nope, no rostral
Wow - lovely little skull: is this the one I saw earlier in the year? Has come up nicely with the extra prep...
Hi Paul,
No this is the second skull that was attached to an articulated postcranium, the skull you saw was found nearby but was isolated. Suddenly heterodontosaurids are coming out of the woodwork!
ah ok, I guess its just a crack with some matix infilling creating the illusion of a suture then.
/drool
Interesting specimen¡¡Hello Mr Adam Yates, my name is Jaime Bran, and i would like some help from you, since you live in South Africa, could i suggest some blog entries about certain dicynodonts? ever heard of Dinanodomon?
Regards¡¡
Simply, an excellent...and cute...specimen!! :) Seriously, Nice skull!
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