Re: MAMMALS AS DINOSAUR ANALOGUES II

[Robert J Meyerson <meyersrt@uwec.edu> (Rob Meyerson)]

Brian Franczak writes;

>And I'm not certain I understand the reference to ceratopians. The
>ceratopian frill served as an area of muscle attachment for the jaws, not
>as support for the head or neck. To help support their massive heads, the
>first three cervical vertebrae of ceratopians are fused.

I used the ceratopian analogy to illustrate that elongation of bony
 structures is often used to strengthen muscle attachment sites.  By
 elongating the frill, the jaw muscles can become larger, and
 therefore, stronger.

I advance this idea to  _Spinosaurus_ to suggest that some kind, perhaps
 several kinds, of musclature benefited from elongated neural spines.  I
 have no idea which muscle(s) benefitted from this, or why it did in the
 first place.  Whatever the reason, it could be reasonable to suggest that
 Spiny-evolution selected for longer neural spines for the same reason that
 _Ouranosaurus_ elongated it's spines.  The real trick is finding that
 reason.

An interesting idea in any right.


Rob Meyerson
Orphan Vertebrate Paleontologist

***
"Great, he's even sounding like a Vorlon."
        -S.I.