Re: Beaks

["Steve Brusatte" <dinoland@lycos.com>]

On Sat, 21 Dec 2002 15:21:20  
 Dino Guy Ralph wrote:
>On the other hand, I don't know why gastroliths have been >discovered and 
>described for so few individuals of such a >wide array of species (and not 
>just theropods, obviously).  >Preservational bias against hard, rounded rocks?

Probably because of careful science.  "Gastroliths" can be found in every rock 
shop, but often they are only described in the literature as gastroliths if 
they are found in a mass within the ribcage of an articulated or somewhat 
complete skeleton.  This is probably why, among ceratopsians, _Psittacosaurus_ 
is the only taxon (to my knowledge) with gastroliths assigned to it.

Steve

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Stephen Brusatte
Geophysical Sciences
University of Chicago
Dino Land Paleontology-http://www.geocities.com/stegob
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