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Re: SVP 2004




Jaime Headden wrote:

while tyrannosaurs would later emphasize the head-first guild,
leaving the grappling of prey guild absent. Is it possible segnosaurs may
have filled this vacuum at some point in Asia, but to leave it empty in
America?

This would mean that segnosaurs (=therizinosauroids) were predators. However, IMHO the morphology of segnosaurs (especially the later ones) seems very poorly adapted for running or chasing down prey. The alternative suggestion is that segnosaurs had a similar lifestyle to chalicotheres, and those long arms and hand-claws of segnosaurs were used to hook branches, not grapple with prey.


Mike Keesey wrote:

I attended, and actually he showed that the forelimbs look nothing
like those of moles. They are, however, *incredibly* like those of
anteaters (especially tamanduas, I think?). The difference is that
moles push soft dirt from in front of them to the sides, while
anteaters rip open hard-packed material

Fascinating. The idea of ant-eating (myrmecophagous) alvarezsaurs has come up before, including on this list. I would add that tamanduas and other anteaters have quite long forelimbs, whereas those of alvarezsaurs are short and stubby.



Tim