Re: Why did small dinos become extinct?

[JAMES ARONIS <Apollo@mlink.net>]

I was going to suggest an alternative theory for the presecnce of quill 
knobs and their supported structures in non-volant dinosaurs in the 
recent thread about this topic, but declined to do so. What if the quill 
knobs did not support 'feathers,' but derived structures to aid in prey 
capture?

James

jrc wrote:
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Tim Williams" 
> <twilliams_alpha@hotmail.com>
> To: <dinosaur@usc.edu>; <twilliams_alpha@hotmail.com>
> Sent: Thursday, December 13, 2007 6:12 PM
> Subject: RE: Why did small dinos become extinct?
> >
> (2) quill knobs, which were once thought to have been indicative of 
> flight (or at least flight ancestry) are now reported for 
> _Velociraptor_, suggesting (but not proving) that this character may 
> not have originally evolved for flight. <
>
> Might quill knobs have evolved for carrying airloads generated for 
> directional control (same thing as evolving for flight....) ?
> Jim