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Re: [dinosaur] Liaoningosaurus ate fish (!!??)
As a follow-up, the presence of ventral dermal armour in the
_Liaoningosaurus_ type specimen was directly refuted by Arbour &c in
this study:
Arbour, V.M., Burns, M.E., Bell, P.R., and Currie, P.J. (2014)
Epidermal and dermal integumentary structures of ankylosaurian
dinosaurs. Journal of Morphology 275: 39-50 DOI 10.1002/jmor.20194
In any case, Ji et al. (2016) state: "In addition, hundreds of
specimens of _L. paradoxus_ have been unearthed from the Lower
Cretaceous of Western Liaoning, but no dorsal scutes have been found."
No mention of ventral armor; but with so many skeletons available,
the issue of whether _Liaoningosaurus_ had any ventral scutes or
osteoderms (or just epidermal scales) should be resolved.
The short manus and pes argues against aquatic abilities (elongate
phalanges make for better paddles or flippers for swimming).
On Sun, Aug 28, 2016 at 11:54 PM, Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
<tholtz@geology.umd.edu> wrote:
> This is an interesting hypothesis, but let us not forget the possibility
> that the fish in the belly could be post-mortem associations. (After all,
> finding a gar in the belly of a hadrosaur is not evidence of piscivory in
> duckbills!)
>
> On 2016-08-28 09:46, Brian Lauret wrote:
>
>> I think it is worth mentioning that according to Victoria Arbour, who
>> researches ankylosaurs, Little L's plastron is actually misidentified
>> belly scales (see
>> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__pseudoplocephalus.com_2014_04_02_scaling-2Dup_&d=DQICAg&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=Ry_mO4IFaUmGof_Yl9MyZgecRCKHn5g4z1CYJgFW9SI&m=ls3_qEyVOCCJjjGHPq-2jZenRkmxvhyvYrseiF2u8eI&s=k3Pduly9AngRzJfsGQ8IL68PPrWDNLQZxYaP3R2QK0Y&e=
>> [2]). I have no opinion on the matter.
>
>
> Arbor provides a close up photo of the supposed armor on that link. Note
> that it is NOT like the plastron of a turtle or the belly armor of some
> placodonts. I strongly suspect that she is correct. (And this probably IS
> the case of the remarkable preservation you refer to in the next paragraph).
>
>
>> Lastly and most out there, an aquatic _Liaoningosaurus_ might also be
>> an alternative explanation for its lack of preserved integument if
>> this was actually a derived, naked-bodied ornithischian that had lost
>> all integument because of adapting said lifestyle. Does the critter
>> hail from rocks that preserve soft tissue impressions, most notably
>> feathers, or is this a moot suggestion of mine anyway?
>
>
> It is from the Yixian, but keep in mind that preservation in any unit--even
> across the same bedding plane on a meter-scale--can be radically different.
> (These sites are remarkable because they CAN preserve fine details, not
> because they MUST preserve them. :-) ).
>
> --
> Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
> Email: tholtz@umd.edu Phone: 301-405-4084
> Senior Lecturer, Vertebrate Paleontology
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>
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