Re: Snarling theropods

["T. Michael Keesey" <mightyodinn@yahoo.com>]

--- Michael Lovejoy <michael@palaeoproductions.fsnet.co.uk> wrote:
> Greg Paul wrote: "No reptile has mobile lips and this would have been true
> of dinosaurs as well."
> 
> But surely many archosaurs had physical characteristics not found today in
> reptiles?

Most of today's reptilians (monophyletic sense, anyway) are archosaurs
(monophyletic sense again).

> Can we rule out mobile lips with certainty? ( I confess, I'll be
> just as happy if we can, it's one less control to worry about on the
> animatronics!)

We can't "rule it out" any more than we can rule out fox-like ears on
dromaeosaurids. But if a trait doesn't appear in a fossil animal's extant
bracket, I think there should be a pretty good reason to use it in a 
restoration.

=====
=====> T. Michael Keesey <keesey@bigfoot.com>
=====> The Dinosauricon <http://dinosauricon.com>
=====> BloodySteak <http://bloodysteak.com>
=====> Instant Messenger <Ric Blayze>
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