Re: Testing competitive exclusion in birds, bats and pterosaurs

[jrc <jrccea@bellsouth.net>]

Yes, that's why I used the terms 'speculative', 'could, and 'may'.
Jim

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tim Williams" <twilliams_alpha@hotmail.com>
To: <dinosaur@usc.edu>
Sent: Monday, May 07, 2007 7:15 PM
Subject: Re: Testing competitive exclusion in birds, bats and pterosaurs


> I agree with you on this point.  The group you're referring to 
> (Odontopterygiformes) were marine soarers in the Paleocene.  Although 
> there is indirect evidence that that this group may have been around in 
> the later Cretaceous (see http://dml.cmnh.org/2006May/msg00247.html), 
> there is no direct fossil evidence of any marine soaring birds at this 
> time.  Then again, we haven't yet discovered any odontopterygiforms at all 
> from the Cretaceous, so we just don't know how early they became marine 
> soarers.