RE: sauropod quantity

["Thom Holmes" <tholmes@dolphinsoft.com>]

>Is it possible that the fossil record is
>over-represented by
>sauropods and other very large animals (I mean in relation to other smaller
>animals)?

It is also interesting to note that the large size of sauropod skeletons
also worked against them in some ways in respect to becoming a fossil.
While, as a group, sauropod bones are in great abundance, they are poorly
known at the species level (Dodson, McIntosh) due to the lack of many of the
best bits needed to diagnose them. As Dodson pointed out in The Dinosauria,
sauropod specimens are most often lacking heads, feet, and tails--the parts
that would tend to break off and separate from the rest of the carcass
before burial. Their great size actually made it less likely that the entire
body would be buried and fossilized. Parts yes, but not the whole.

--Thom Holmes
dinosaur writer at large



-----Original Message-----
From: Stanley Friesen [mailto:sarima@ix.netcom.com]
Sent: Saturday, September 18, 1999 11:51 AM
To: dinosaur@usc.edu
Subject: Re: sauropod quantity


At 09:43 AM 9/17/99 -0500, Joseph Daniel wrote:
>Someone made a comment about such a large number of very large animals and
that
>got me to thinking. Is it possible that the fossil record is
>over-represented by
>sauropods and other very large animals (I mean in relation to other smaller
>animals)?

Not merely possible, virtually certain.  Almost any model of taphonomic
processes shows a relative impoverishment of small, delicate forms.

> The thought came to me that the very large bones might improve
>fossilization by taking longer to dispose of and will thus have more of a
>chance to fossilize, at least a piece of them anyway, than smaller animals.

Yes, absolutely.  And also they are easier to see when surveying for fossil
sites, and last longer after being exposed by erosion, allowing more time
to find them.

[Not to mention the better funding for spectacular displayable specimens].

--------------
May the peace of God be with you.         sarima@ix.netcom.com