Re: Rookie Questions

["Allan Edels" <edels@email.msn.com>]

Jessica:

    1)    Basal  -- Definition: pertaining to or situated near a base.
            In the use as I commonly see it here, basal indicates the
            least derived version of the group/clade in question.
            (The dinosaur with the minimal amount of characters that
            it takes to describe the clade, possibly the most primative
            version of the clade).

    2)    Here's 2 Protoceratops that I can find/remember (off-hand):

                Protoceratops andrewsi {named by Granger & Gregory, 1923
[type]}
                *Protoceratops kozlowskii = Breviceratops kozlowskii

            Within each, there is a robust form, and a gracile form.
            (The robust form is considered to be female in this case).

    3)    Just because - most people doing the naming do not go
            out of their way to name something beginning with "Z".
            There are fewer descriptions based on "Z" words.

    4)    Duckbillls might have used their tails as a defensive weapon --
            swinging them around to smack into the predator.  Kicking is
            also a good defensive action.  Bitting might have help against
            certain size predators, but not against all.  (They probably
couldn't
            bite with their teeth, as their teeth were in the side of their
jaws --
            however, they probably had beaks or beak-like structures on the
            front of their skulls, which might have been good for snapping
at predators).
            I doubt that puking their guts up would help, as they were
herbivores, and
            omnivores and carnivores have much smellier vomit and dung.
            (Ask any vegetarian :-)).

    5)    I don't have any specifics for you here, maybe someone else can
help.


                    Allan Edels

-----Original Message-----
From: GOBI 2010 <gobi2010@hotmail.com>
To: dinosaur@usc.edu <dinosaur@usc.edu>
Date: Wednesday, September 16, 1998 6:25 PM
Subject: Rookie Questions


>Okie, here's some questions I have, that shouldn't be too hard to
>answer...
>1) What makes a dinosaur Basal? Ex: Basal prosauropods,etc...WHAT'S IT
>MEAN?
>2) How many species of Protoceratops are there and what are the Species
>names? I know there's at least 2-P. andrewsi (If I remember
>correctly)....and some other ones....what's the difference in the two
>forms?
>3)Why aren't there many dinosaurs with names that start with 'z'?
>4)Could 'duckbills' have deffended themselves by kicking,clawing or
>biting predators? Or maybe by puking like vultures?
>(hehe....I know it'd be hard to prove the vulture vommit one...)
>5)What's the bite pressure/an estimate of the bite pressure of
>Tyrannosaurus rex
>Allosaurus fragilis
>Giganotosaurus
>Utahraptor O.
>Carnotaurus
>Megalosaurus
>
>Thanks for your time in answering these questions.
>:)
>
>
>Jessica Wagar
>Amateur Paleontologist
>Michigan,USA
>http://server1.hypermart.net/gobi2010/index.htm
>
>Good friends are like good books;
>Hard to find and worth keeping-JNW'98
>
>
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