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RE: New Deinocheirus specimens found, indicating basal ornithomimosaur



Would the claws (and arm muscles) be suitable to uprooting and breaking open 
cycad trunks or similar plants? IIRC the tricipital attachment scar should be 
large and quite rugose in such a case. The claws at least of advanced 
therizinosaurs don't seem well suited for such foraging activity (too long and 
compressed, better for shearing off foliage), and as regards non-dinosaurian 
competitors in such a niche there were few if any at that time.


Regards,

Eike




--------------------------------------------
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. <tholtz@umd.edu> schrieb am Mi, 6.11.2013:

 Betreff: RE: New Deinocheirus specimens found, indicating basal ornithomimosaur
 An: qi_leong@hotmail.com, "'Tim Williams'" <tijawi@gmail.com>, "'Dinosaur 
Mailing List'" <dinosaur@usc.edu>
 Datum: Mittwoch, 6. November, 2013 15:38 Uhr
 
 The manual claws of Deinocherius are
 most definitely NOT raptorial! However, I understand when
 just viewing them from a distance
 they might appear so. Handling the actual specimens (or
 casts), you find they are much thicker, much less pointed,
 and so forth than
 people commonly think: more like the claws of basal
 therizinosauroids.
 
 Torvosaurus, Suchomimus, megaraptorans, etc., are much
 better models for what a giant raptorial claw actually looks
 like: far more
 tapered, far more pointed, more elongate compared to the
 articular facet, etc.
 
 Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
 Email: tholtz@umd.edu   
 Phone: 301-405-4084
 Office: Centreville 1216   
         
 Senior Lecturer, Vertebrate Paleontology
 Dept. of Geology, University of Maryland
 http://www.geol.umd.edu/~tholtz/
 Fax: 301-314-9661        
 
 Faculty Director, Science & Global Change Program,
 College Park Scholars
 http://www.geol.umd.edu/sgc
 Fax: 301-314-9843
 
 Mailing Address:    Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
            
 Department of Geology
            
 Building 237, Room 1117
            
 University of Maryland
            
 College Park, MD 20742 USA