Re: theropod tongues

[NJPharris@aol.com]

In a message dated 97-06-09 03:07:59 EDT, dunn1@IDT.NET writes:

> But then of course Tyrannosaurs  probably didn't have beaks either.  
>  Dinosaurs and birds are related (or dinosaurs are birds or birds are 
>  dinosaurs or dinobirds are . . .) but can we really say that a two 
>  ounce dinobird should dictate the reconstruction of a five ton 
>  theropod?

However, the fact that many ornithodirans, from pterosaurs to ornithischians
to modern birds have/had horny beaks may indicate that the presence of a
horny covering over part of the jaws (the premaxilla?) might have been a
primitive character for the Ornithodira
(dinosaurs+pterosaurs+"lagosuchians").  This is purely speculation, of
course, but some sort of beak on _Tyrannosaurus_ is not *completely*
unreasonable.

BTW, _Tyrannosaurus_ was a five-ton *dinobird*.

Nick Pharris
Olympia, WA