Re: any "Dino-skunks"?

[Matt Martyniuk <dinoguy2@yahoo.com>]

Just thought I'd chime in on this subject...

"Gross resemblance" is a very subjective term, but I
personally wouldn't apply it in this case, especially
since we're only dealing with skeletal remains here
(for the most part). If you compared the skeleton of a
wolf and a leopard, I think you'd see a much stronger
resemblance than if you compared an _Ornithomimus_
with, say, an _Alxasaurus_. Ornithomimosaurs
superficially resemble therizinosaurs to a certain
extent, yes, but this only lies in the fact that they
both have long necks. Therizinonosaurs also supposedly
had a much more upright posture than ornithomimosaurs
(possibly due to their short tail length). In short,
it's pretty hard to confuse the two groups. Maybe
better candidates for mimicry would be _Caudipteryx_
and _Protarchaeopteryx_, if they're not in fact
closely related.
   Your dino-skunk idea, however, is pretty intriguing
(though most likely untestable).

--Matt Martyniuk
martyniukm2@scranton.edu
Paleo Art:
http://www.geocities.com/dinoguy2/images/paleoart.htm

>>
Ken Kinman wrote:
Jaime,
   I will certainly keep classifying Deinocheirus in
Family  Ornithomimidae, but the similarities in
"gross" body shape between  Ornithomimes and
Therizinosaurs seriously make me wonder if one group
(or  subgroups thereof) was mimicking the appearance
of the other for some  reason.
   Such mimicry could very well have been enhanced by
similarities in  color and patterns in the coat of
feathery dinofuzz.  After all, I can  immediately tell
a monarch from a viceroy butterfly with a mere glance,
but  the similarities in patterns of colored
wing-scales has been fooling some  rather
"intelligent" bird predators for millions of years.
   I don't think the gross similarities of
ornithomimes and therizinosaurs  is just coincidence.
The question is whether such similarities are due to
similar ways of life (and some degree of relatedness)
or if this could be  mimicry.  If the latter, which
was mimicking which?  Perhaps Ornithomimes  were in
reality "Therizinomimes"? <<

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