Re: Caudipteryx and "Whulks"

[carlo godel <regiaero@gj.net>]

question, did the earth need a large planktivorous reptile or was it full enough
with planktivorous fish that a reptile would not have found the feeding 
sufficient.

Carlo

Dennis C Hwang wrote:

> On Thu, 26 Aug 1999 Danvarner@aol.com wrote:
>
> > In a message dated 8/26/99 3:20:02 PM Pacific Daylight Time, 
> > Jonkeria@aol.com
> > writes:
> >
> > <<
> >  The complete lack of probable planktivorous (suspension-feeding) seagoing
> >  reptiles in the Mesozoic is indeed a puzzler, and although people like Mike
> >  Everhart or Dan Varner could probably answer this question much better than
> >  I, one answer is that diapsid reptiles, unlike marine mammals, do not have
> >  the morphology needed to form a tight seal at the back of the mouth in 
> > order
> >  to expel unwanted water but retain plankton. Also, of course the reptiles
> >  have no neck slits like gills which fish use to filter feed.  >>
>
> Presumably, the filter-feeding pterosaurs (_Ctenochasma_, _Pterodaustro_)
> didn't need this tight seal, since they weren't aquatic?
>
> >   You pretty much say it all.
> >   There is a very strange pliosaurid(?)( Darren, help!) from South America
> > that is known mainly from pen-and-ink drawings to my knowledge- I tried to
> > find a reference, maybe someone out there can help me.
> >   The oceans literally bloomed in the Cretaceous, hence the name.
> >   A very interesting survivor of the K/T event is the whale shark,
> > Rhinocodon(?).
>
> _Rhincodon typus_ (and the subject of numerous misspellings throughout the
> literature :)  I didn't know they were known from the Cretaceous.
> Fascinating. :)
>
> > This is one animal that really shouldn't have made it across
> > the threshold. But I'm glad it did and hope to see one someday. Perhaps it
> > survived because it is not strictly a filter-feeder. Dan Varner.
> >
>
> --Dennis
> *************************************************************
> *   dchwang@itsa.ucsf.edu   *   xenopathologist at large!   *
> *************************************************************
> *    "Why would the government want to turn Scully into     *
> *    a bimbo?"           -- Frohike, THE X-FILES 5/2/99     *
> *************************************************************