Re: CRETACEOUS NEORNITHINES

["Jaime A. Headden" <qilongia@yahoo.com>]

Betty Cunningham wrote:

<there is a toothless, parrot-beak-like pterosaur,
_Tapejara_. What would preclude this beak from being a
possibly similar pterosaur, if it's not a really a
parrot?>

  The beak of *Tapejara* is very pointy and long,
rather than the preserved portion as seen in the
holotype skull of *T. wellnhoferi*; *T. imperator*
(the nearly three-times bigger one whose crest would
have went above your ceiling with little cousin
wellnhoferi being up to your chest) has a preserved
beak similar to most other edentulous pterosaurs in
being sharp, shallow, narrow [very!] and long,
suggesting that the parrot-like profile of wellhoferi
is due to lack of preservation of the very thin bony
there -- or for whatever reason.

  This is probably one of the coolest looking of all
pterosaurs, and has oohed and ahhed those who I've
shown illustrations and photos of it, including my
own. Get ready to see them soon, y'all.


=====
Jaime "James" A. Headden

"Come the path that leads us to our fortune."

Qilong---is temporarily out of service.
Check back soon.
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