Re: any Dino-skunks? (now mimicry )

["Demetrios M. Vital" <vita0015@umn.edu>]

On 2 Jul 2001, Tracy L. Ford wrote:

> This is something that I've brought up on the list before. Can we now,
with
> all the known dinosaurs, state whether or not some of the animals
actually
> 'mimicing' other dinosaurs? I.e. Buffetaut et al's belief that
Pelicanimimus
> mimicking ornithimimids? Or to put it in a more accurately, are they
> mimicking a body morph? (Yea I've heard how Pelicanimimus is an
ornithimimid
> by some of youse guys, but the skull is just plain wrong).
>
> Are other dinosaurs mimicking a body morph and do not belong in the
current
> family (group, clade, what ever) that they are placed in? I've also asked
a
> few paleontologist about this very thing a few months ago. IF, and yes
this
> is a big IF, if this is true, then what?

I think this can be approached with a similar air as Ostrom's analysis of
Deinonychus antirrhopus' similarity to birds (~200 anatomical similarities,
by his count, I believe).  If there are more similarities on more detailed
levels, then it is more likely that an animal isn't mimicking another
animal, but is part of that clade.  I'm not sure, though, that mimicking
can be determined by the fossil record with accuracy.

-Demetrios Vital