Re: K-T crocodylians

["Ken Kinman" <kinman@hotmail.com>]

Adam,
     I think Chris and others (not surprisingly among croc workers I guess)
tend to underestimate the K-T devastation.  I have no doubt that crocs were
severely affected in both populations numbers and diversity (as were most
land vertebrates).
    However, I think crocs were probably able to recover faster than many
other groups and coped much better than average.  Given a sparse fossil
record, a rapid recovery would tend to obscure just how badly the group
might have suffered during the ordeal.
              -------Ken
*****************************************
> From: "Adam Britton" <abritton@wmi.com.au>
> To: <kinman@hotmail.com>
> Subject: Re: K-T crocodylians
> Date: Mon, 23 Jul 2001 11:50:52 +0930
>
> From: "Ken Kinman" <kinman@hotmail.com>
> Sent: Monday, July 23, 2001 2:02 AM
>
>
> >      I certainly do not agree with statements I occasionally see that
> crocs
> > sailed through the extinction virtually unscathed.  But they certainly
> seem
> > to have done better than birds, as one would expect from the combination
> of
> > coping mechanisms the crocs had.
>
> Ken, can you elaborate on why you don't agree that they escaped "virtually
> unscathed"? If, as Chris pointed out, it was suggested that diversity
> remained relatively unscathed, does this mean there was an increase in
> species radiation after the K-T, or that a reasonable number survived? Is
> the interpretation possibly flawed, or the evidence just not good enough?
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Adam Britton


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