Re: Belly Ribs

[Henri Rönkkö <henri.ronkko@kolumbus.fi>]

Steve brusatte wrote about gastralia:

> Exactly what is their function?  This is something I would like to debate.
The answer
> probably lies in breathing, as Leon Claessens talked about at the Armour
Symposium.
>  Since they are only known in saurischians, this must mean that theropods
and sauropods
> had different breathing mechanisms.  Or, possibly gastralia were used to
hold in the visceral
> mass, or had a purpose or function that nobody has even guessed at.

I would suggest having a look at this:

http://www.bioone.org/bioone/?request=get-abstract&issn=0003-1569&volume=040
&issue=01&page=0087

You may have to copy this URL to the box in the dorsal part of your browser
window in two or more parts. The article is very interesting in my opinion.
Tom Holtz has already told a little bit about it, and I posted a question
about onto this list a while ago, but no one could answer.

Best wishes,
Henri Rönkkö