RE: Non-dinos of OZ and NZ

[Adam Yates <A.Yates@zoo.latrobe.edu.au>]

>Join the club...what I'm really waiting for is a description of the big
>(15cm when complete) pedal claw described on page 103. Can't say too
>much
>about it (seen a cast - it does bear a striking resemblance to the claw
>of
>another big early-K theropod) but the fact that this thing was in the
>Victorian rift valley makes you wonder just what it was feeding on...it
>had
>to be something there more substantial than hypsilophodontids!

Don't forget Taphonomy! The Early K deposits of Victoria are mostly
accumulations of small bones in clay-pebble conglomerates at the bases of
small streams, There were very large animals running around (the beast that
owned the claw for one) but few of their remains could be carried by the
small streams that created most of the deposits. I think part of the reason
for the stream size was the geological setting, ie  right by the steep walls
of a narrow rift valley, without enough space for many tributaries to come
together and produce a big river.  

cheers

Adam Yates