Wedel's paper

[ekaterina A <a_ekaterina@yahoo.com>]

Finally I got the chance to read M.Wedel's paper on
pneumaticity. I understand that its implications are
profound for reconstruction of dinosaurian biology and
behavior. Equally interesting is Gower's discovery of
pneumaticity in a very early branching archosaur
Erythrosuchus. In that paper he mentions that some
sphenosuchians may have vertebral pneumaticity. Can
any one tell which sphenosuchian is this one? Has it
been described elsewhere in detail. Also could any one
tell me if there has been a detailed description of
pneumaticity in Batrachotomus?

I believe that this suggests that the airsacs did
emerge very early in archosaurian evolution and was
perhaps lost secondarily in some taxa. This may also
give us the physiological basis for why dinosaurs were
able scale up so well in comparison to mammals or
modern reptiles. Has anyone produced revised mass
estimates based taking the airsacs into account?

Thanks
-EA

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