Re: Dilong

[fam jansma <fam.jansma@tiscali.nl>]

Tim Williams wrote:

> _Dilong_ is not just significant for the presence of protofeathers, but
also
> for what it tells us about tyrannosauroid evolution.  For example, the
> reduction in forelimb length occurred after the diagnostic changes to the
> tyrannosauroid jaws.  To a large degree, _Eotyrannus_ indicated that this
> was the case (and _Eotyrannus_ was also a fabulous discovery); but
_Dilong_
> fills in so many more details.
>
Isn't this just logical? I mean...when you reduce the forelimbs before you
increase the relative size of the skull and other changes in the structure
of the skull, you got a theropod can't do anything well. It isn't a "running
skull", but also not a theropod that can grab it's prey well at high speed.

Rutger Jansma