Re: Causality and dinosaur energetics

[Nick Longrich <longrich@stardot.com>]

On Fri, 20 Dec 1996, Jeff Poling wrote:

>    (just out of curiosity, do PTEROSAUR skulls show evidence of RTs?)

        I believe that Ruben has stated that their nasal passages do not 
have the necessary space. This perhaps ought to make us a little 
suspicious. Pterosaurs have been candidates for endothermy for a long 
time. even Romer's Vertebrate Paleontology mentions that they may have 
been somewhat endothermic, and that's a pretty old book. They had 
insulation and required one heck of a lot of energy to stay airborne, and 
it is questionable that an ectotherm could do this. Same goes with early 
birds, which , I believe, have also been said to be ectotherms according 
to RT information.