Re: New Shandong Dinosaur Discoveries

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

> (grass avoiding dry water)

...?

> Does anyone know the evidence he has for that.

Probably that's just supposed to mean "abundant plant cover of the ground". 
Xinhua translations are not very good, and then of course it's written by 
journalists to begin with.

> Certainly the little scurrying furry mammals with high[-]crowned
> teeth ate some and may have enjoyed some degree of
> specialization toward that diet.

Unlikely. Despite everything everyone has been taught, phytoliths are in 
fact softer than tooth enamel. Hypsodont and hypselodont ( = rootless) teeth 
are more likely an adaptation to grit in the diet. My source for this is a 
poster from this year's congress of the student-researchers of the natural 
history museum in Paris; I'll post the abstract when I'll be back in Paris.

> Hopefully the sequence spans the K/T contact.

I think that's too much to hope for :o)

A ceratopsid* in Asia is already cool enough!

* Which reminds me: the temnospondyl workers switched all -opsidae/-opsoidea 
names to -opidae/-opoidea maybe 10 or 15 years ago, and nobody seems to 
complain...