Appalachiosaurus Has Papers

The naming/describing paper announcing Appalachiosaurus to the world is available online. I like being able to say that. It is nice that such valuable resources are there for everyone to read and learn and discuss. What I hate having to say following a statement like that is something to the effect of "but you may not be able to view it." Such, sadly, is the case with Appalachiosaurus. Once upon a time the second author, Thomas Williamson, had it hosted through the New Mexico Museum of History and Natural Science, but it is no longer hosted on their website. Where you can get it still, and it does require a membership or a fee to read it, is from Taylor & Francis through the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology. That is correct friends, this paper was originally published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology and is now not hosted anywhere but at the publisher's website. I am not going to knock publishing costs today, mostly because at $15 US for the article is cheap compared to what some articles cost for a single copy.

Regardless, the description in the paper and analysis of the fossils is pretty straightforward, as far as I am concerned. Carr, Williamson, and Schwimmer also included some very nice photos of the fossils and diagrammed out the skull positions of the bones, as well as labeling every possible surface they could. It really is amateur friendly work. Check it out if you can. If you cannot, I wish I could post some fantastic images from their paper, but I am sure I would get into some sort of copyright debacle, so instead, here is a close-up of the skull in the McWane Science Center taken by Ralph Daily (found via Flickr):