GSCI 1052 Lecture Notes - Lecture 23: Disembowelment, Hadrosaurid, Biological Specificity
23 Jan 2018
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Document Summary
Theropod characters: extreme hollowing of the bones, hand with reduced ring and pinky fingers, pits on the upper surface of the finger bones to allow extreme extension of fingers. Theropods: only group which has extension out past cretaceous, longest-lived dinosaur, continue as birds today and evolve in late triassic, global distribution, known locally from skeletons, small to medium sized dinosaurs, includes the largest land predators ever. Only need to remember one group, the maniraptorans: ***they have a semilunate carpal in the wrist, allowing the hand to fold against the forearm, they gave rise to birds. They did not rely on biting: by contrast, fish eaters (spinosaurus) had teeth that were round in cross section for puncturing prey, tyrannosaurus also had round teeth and a massive jaw for a bone-crushing bite. Habitat use: paleontologists have observed differences in where theropod fossils are found, suggesting resource partitioning.
