Re: Triassic dinosaur evolution

[Mike Habib <habib@jhmi.edu>]

> However, if articulation is such that the chest and teeth could not  
> make contact w/ large prey simultaneously, even under those  
> circumstances, then the "point" is perhaps not so "good"...

Indeed, that's the issue I'm wondering about.  Problem is, I'm not an  
expert on the range of motion in the cervical series of large  
theropods (I'm much more familiar with the values for the avian  
variety, which are very, very skewed by comparison...) But, based on  
the information I have, quite a few of the mid to large theropods have  
reasonably stiff necks in the sense that a tight S-curve is difficult.

There's also the issue that the prey item needs to be quite large for  
there to be any real chance of simultaneous grappling and biting,  
which then raises all the usual banter and uncertainty regarding  
plausible prey sizes (i.e. did allosaurs really attack sauropods and  
the like).

Cheers,

--Mike


Michael Habib, M.S.
PhD. Candidate
Center for Functional Anatomy and Evolution
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
1830 E. Monument Street
Baltimore, MD 21205
(443) 280-0181
habib@jhmi.edu