Re: Theropod beaks?

[tlford@ix.netcom.com (Tracy Ford)]

You wrote: 
>
>>From a recent post:
>
>>some sort of beak on _Tyrannosaurus_ is not *completely*
>>unreasonable.
>
 Tyrannosaurus, to my 
>mind, is lacking anything that suggests a beak.  It has "lip-holes" 
>along the jaws that Uncle Bob says supported fleshy lips, and I've 
>also heard that those foramina were for blood vessels and nerves 
>servicing the tooth roots. 

Well, Bob is wrong. Those fossa aren't for lips, but I can't say any 
more right now. I'm working on a paper and it'll appear in November for 
the Mesa Southwest Museum.

But I will be doing a shorter, non technical article for Prehistoric 
Times, and that'll be out sooner.

No beaks. Ornithomimids, yes, Overaptorids, yes, any other theropod no. 
But I have heard that a few of the Argentine Paleontologist, Bonaparte 
and Coria, think that the top of the nasal may have been a site for a 
bony covering.

Tracy