Ref.s (Was Armadillo) follow up

[John Bois <jbois@umd5.umd.edu>]

 Michael Habib asked (a question to the effect of) whether ratites suffer
elevated nest predation rates compared to other birds.  In available
studies (few), nest failure due to predation for ostriches and rhea were
52 and 63% respectively (refs. if needed).  For comparison, nest failure
due to predation for non-ratite birds ranges between 20 and 60%.  When
predation on ratite chicks is included, mortality rates typically exceed
90%.  I don't have a number on it, but I would expect ratite chicks to
suffer higher rates of predation due to the relatively long time they are
small (relative to their parents)-clearly, the bigger the dinosaur, the
broader this predation post-hatching window-at the very least, this is a
strong hypothesis.

 David Marjanovic and Jaime Headden asked for the reference for my claim
that the iridium layer is misplaced, or didn't support the bolide in
India:

S. Bajpai, G. V. R. Prasad. 2000. Cretaceous age for Ir-rich Deccan
intertrappean deposits: palaeontological evidence from Anjar, western
India. _Journal of the Geological Society, London_ 157: 257-260.

Abstract says: "...late Cretaceous ostracods, lack of evidence of
reworking, and the absence of any exclusively Paleocene taxa above the
iridium levels, taken together, indicate that the extinction  of
dinosaurs in the Indian subcontinent occurred after the deposition of Ir
layers at Anjar, and that these Ir anomalies may significantly predate
the K/T boundary."

David also asked what year was the edition of Graeme Worth's, _The
Dinosaur Encyclopedia_,
the data base for size of dinosaurs (I had said that the vast majority
were over 4 m in length). This was the 1998 edition.  I have a student
doing a science fair project analyzing sizes of dinos at different
times.  I'm slightly embarrassed to tell him that no one has done this
already (is this really true?).  Also, I would be obliged if anyone could
point me to the best source for this info (I don't have the wherewithal
to do an exhaustive search of the literature myself).  I know there is a
later version of the above software.

Finally, while I'm on the subject of references:  Martin, T. E.,
J. Scott, C. Menge. 2000. Nest predation increases with parental
activity: separating nest site and parental activity effects. Proceedings
of the Royal Society, London B. Biological Sciences. 267: 2287-2293.

They have discovered that in a wide variety of bird species nest
provisioning has a predation cost, and that nest sites have "highly
repeatable effects on nest predation risk".  They
conclude: "...(the) measurement of nest predation as a selective force
needs careful consideration.  (It) has been neglected, but clearly
(deserves) more attention in understanding variation in measured nest
predation and its influence on the evolution of parental care behaviours
and other phenotypic traits."