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Re: featherlike dermal structures
In a message dated 97-06-25 15:26:07 EDT, MissRaptor@mindless.com (Swift
Claw) writes:
<< sauropod dorsal frills are derived forms of very
> primitive pre-feathers.
Dorsal frills? >>
Right. Discovered and described by Steve Czerkas a few years ago. Spinelike
bony structures as much as 18 inches tall that ran in (two? parallel?) rows
along the backs of diplodocids and other such animals. In titanosaurians
(e.g., _Titanosaurus_, _Saltasaurus_, _Ampelosaurus_), these evidently became
elaborated into nodelike dermal plates.