Papers and Problems

©Chris Porter (Commissioned by OMNH)

Daniel Chure's original 1995 redscription and redesignation of Saurophaganax was published in a collection of papers and presented at a symposium on Mesozoic ecosystems. This paper was printed in the collection 5 years prior to Chure's dissertation thesis on another new species, this time and Allosaurus species. The significance of the paper redescribing and redesignating the holotype is that it came very early in Chure's career, which is somewhat rare, these days, for paleontology discoveries. Many discoveries are made by graduate students in cooperation with their advisors, but rarely do we see late undergraduates or early graduate students (not presenting a thesis yet) as making discoveries valid and important to paleontological research. Paul, in his newest book, presents the animal as "Allosaurus (or Saurophaganax) maximus" and notes that enough material and distinction within the material exists to create a new genus and species, but does not present it as a unique species, which is a little strange. Not many studies have been published that we can share online since the Chure paper of 1995;  however, there is a great deal of potential research that remains to be done on this animal, so hopefully we will see some quality research done in the next few years as new materials have been unearthed in New Mexico recently which may belong to Saurophaganax and certainly belongs to the Allosauridae.