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Re: The birds vs. the pterosaurs





> >It reminds me of a scene from Walking With Dinosaurs, when a plesiosaur
(or
> >was it a mosasaur--I don't remember) reached up and captured a theropod.
> >Thus, this aquatic animal was clearly at the top of the terrestrial food
> >chain. Actually, I didn't like that hypothesis at all.


Neither did I. The theropod was *Allosaurus*, and the plesiosaur was
supposed to be *Liopleurodon*, which was ONLY 12 or so and not 25 m long as claimed.

If memory serves, the theropod was _Eustreptospondylus_, a smaller theropod than _Allosaurus_. The Oxford skeleton measures 4-5m long, but was not fully-grown. Adult _Eustreptospondylus_ may have attained 7-9m long.



Tim

------------------------------------------------------------

Timothy J. Williams

USDA/ARS Researcher
Agronomy Hall
Iowa State University
Ames IA 50014

Phone: 515 294 9233
Fax:   515 294 3163

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