Re: Ornithomimid beaks

["T. Mike Keesey" <tmk@dinosauricon.com>]

On Sat, 1 Sep 2001, Mickey Mortimer wrote:

> Although the skull of Sinornis is very poorly preserved, those of the
> related Cathayornis and Largirostrornis do not differ much in tooth
> morphology or distribution compared to Archaeopteryx.  Why would basal
> pygostylians have beaks?

I was under the impression that confuciusornithids (one of the two
daughter clades of _Pygostylia_) had beaks. Do you think that beaks
evolved multiple times within _Pygostylia_?

> The teeth of Shuvuuia look larger than Pelecanimimus, but I don't
> think there was much room for a maxillary beak, as the later is
> supposed to have.

Looking back, not sure why I mentioned alvarezsaurs.

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