Re: Tanystropheus egg question

[Mike Hanson <mhanson54@comcast.net>]

> IF pterosaurs hatched from eggs,
>  
As they almost certainly did.

> THEN would tanystropheids also hatch from eggs?
>  
Depends on the theory you subscribe to. If pterosaurs had prolacertiform 
ancestors, then Tanystropheus was oviparous also, but if pterosaurs were 
a sistergroup to dinosaurs, then Tanystropheus _could_ have been 
oviparous considering phylgenetic bracketing, but we wouldn't know for 
sure unless an egg was found with a Tanystropheus embryo.

> and if so,
> how would that work out – with a _stiff_ neck on the smallest known specimens already twice the torso in length?
>  
Before I say anything else, could I see photos of these specimens? I 
think that they might have been much smaller when they hatched or the 
cervical vertebrae grew quite fast soon after the creature hatched atd 
terefore even many small specimens would have long, stiff necks.

> Then apply the same parameters to Quetzalcoatlus.
>  
It would have worked the same way.
-------------------------------------
Mike Hanson
Email: mhanson54@comcast.net
Website: http://www.archosauria.org
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