Re: [paleo_bio_dinosaur_ontology] dinosaur skeletal anatomy

["David Marjanovic" <david.marjanovic@gmx.at>]

>>
Yes, that's ".0001%" and "million"! Most likely these words are from a
catalogue editor and not Steve Parker (of NHM in London), but the figures
sound to me so astoundingly absurd. Any comments?
<<

It may well be correct, although it's quite a high estimate. First if you
include birds (har har) -- just imagine the number of species like *Sinornis
santensis* that must have existed worldwide for, at least, most of the
Cretaceous, but also the scansoriopterygids and compsognathids and
"hypsilophodonts" and so on --, and secondly consider the sheer amount of
time and space. Average "lifetimes" of endothermic species are below 5 Ma,
IIRC.