Re: sphenodonts, etc.

["Nicholas R. Longrich" <longrich@phoenix.Princeton.EDU>]

On Wed, 21 Feb 1996, King, Norm wrote:

> DANGER!  SPECULATION COMING UP! 

        I think we need a little speculation. You can't just go on 
evidence alone because evidence and experiments are generally looked for 
in the context of hypotheses and theories. 
Sorry about starting the tail-club bit. Seemed logical at the time, but 
I've got to agree that meeting an intraspecific tail-first doesn't make a 
lot of sense, and putting the tail (preferably with a club, spikes, etc.) 
between you and something that wants to bite you makes a good deal of 
sense. 
        There's a Natural History article on burrowing dicynodonts, 
rather interesting. They sound vaguely like analogues to ground 
squirrels, prarie-dogs, woodchucks or rabbits: burrower herbivores. I 
imagine there could have been dinosaurs that burrowed- there are plenty of 
them today, after all- puffins, kingfishers, a burrowing owl, etc. 
        On dinosaurs: I've seen in some illustrations that there are two 
forms of Iguanodon, rather differently proportioned. Does anyone know 
what the relation between the two is? (I assume Greg Paul knows, since 
they are his illustrations).  

        -nick L.