Re: Fixing dinosaurian carnivour question

["T. Mike Keesey" <tkeese1@gl.umbc.edu>]

On Tue, 25 May 1999, megaraptor wrote:

> Ok, I think many people may have a misunderstanding about my question.
> What I meant by "dinosaurian carnivore" was not an avian type of
> dinosaurian carnivore, I meant DINOSAUR, as in Mesozoic era not any time
> period after. I am sorry if anyone misunderstood my question and I am
> sorry if Icame out rude just now.

Dinosauria includes modern Aves by (cladisitic) definition, so it's a good
idea to specify.

So, do you want the smallest (known, adult) non-avian carnivorous dinosaur
or the smallest (known, adult) Mesozoic carnivorous dinosaur? The former
is _Compsognathus longipes_, at about 3 feet in length (and we *know* it
was a carnivore since one specimen had a lizard -- _Bavarisaurus_ in its
gut). The latter -- there were some sparrow-sized enantiornitheans -- I'd
find some names but my webserver appears to be down. (NOOO!)

--T. Mike Keesey                                    <tkeese1@gl.umbc.edu>
WORLDS                                  <http://www.gl.umbc.edu/~tkeese1>
THE DINOSAURICON                               <http://dinosaur.umbc.edu>