Re: Dinosaur Questions, Relating Vaguely to Dinosaur Park Formation

["Thomas R. Holtz, Jr." <th81@umail.umd.edu>]

At 06:02 PM 6/13/99 -0400, Grant Harding wrote:
>Alright dudes.
>
>Is there a general consensus on ornithomimosaur, caenagnathid and
therizinosaur diets?

Therizinosauroids were almost certainly herbivores: don't know anybody these
days who argues against that.

Ornithomimosaurs and caenagnathids are more problematic: omnivore might
represent the best concensus.

>Does anyone know of mass estimates for the following beasts:
>
>Erlikosaurus andrewsi

Not really applicable in this case: the cf. _Erlikosaurus_ material simply
looks like it: it has yet to be demonstrated it's even therizinosauroid.
The specimen in question (a frontal) is about the size of the same bone in
big Dinosaur Park Fm. _Troodon_ specimens, so IF you want it to be a
therizinosauroid, then you could take your _Troodon_ mass estimate and
multiply by 1.5 to 2 (therizinosauroids are fat relative to troodontids).
Or, you could recognize that estimating masses from isolated frontals might
not be that good an idea... :-)

>Paronychodon lacustris

Well, the teeth mass only a couple of grams, and that's all that's known...
(use estimates for _Dromaeosaurus_ and you won't be too far off).

Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
Vertebrate Paleontologist     Webpage: http://www.geol.umd.edu
Dept. of Geology              Email:tholtz@geol.umd.edu
University of Maryland        Phone:301-405-4084
College Park, MD  20742       Fax:  301-314-9661