Ohio University Assistant Professor of Anatomy Larry Witmer's national reputation in the field of paleontology was evidenced by the number of media that contacted him in May looking for comment on the discovery of a new dinosaur, Unenlagia comahuensis, by paleontologists digging in the Patagonian region of Argentina. The discovery added fuel to the discussion of bird evolution.
The unearthing of the most bird-like dinosaur skeleton ever found -- a long-legged, meat-eating creature nearly 4 feet tall and 7 feet long -- sparked a debate among paleontologists writing in specialized journals and interviewed by the media.
Commenting in a piece published May 22 in the British journal Nature, Witmer wrote, "'Unenlagia is a true mosaic, begging the question of where to draw the line between what is, or is not, a bird.'"
Witmer's comments on the find were included in Newsweek;
The New York Times; Washington Post; Los Angeles
Times; Associated Press; the journal Science; the
London Daily Telegraph; and the Dallas Morning News.
Witmer also was interviewed on National
Public Radio's "Morning Edition" broadcast May 21 and on NPR's
"Science Friday" May 23.
