Re: Remoras

[Danvarner@aol.com]

In a message dated 6/22/99 12:16:07 PM Pacific Daylight Time, 
granth@cyberus.ca writes:

<< 
 What point in the Tertiary?  And does that necessarily preclude their
 existence in the Mesozoic?
  >>
  The earliest time I found for remoras ( family Echeneidae ) is Oligocene. 
This does not absolutely preclude their existence in the Mesozoic, but it 
would make me very reluctant about including them in a restoration and 
unacceptable for most paleontologists. I once had to paint a Hesperornis out 
of the mouth of a Mosasaurus conodon in a painting used for a book 
illustration because the bird had never been found in late Campanian deposits 
where Mosasaurus is found. After I made a slide of the painting for the 
publisher, I wiped the new paint off with a rag, re-exposing the bird. 
Several years later a Hesperornis of the correct age was found in North 
Dakota. The difference here was only a few million years, whereas with 
remoras the difference is tens of million years, not to mention passing 
through the K/T. Dan Varner.