RE: Yup, back with more questions : )

["Nicholas Oliver" <Nicholas.Oliver1@btopenworld.com>]

For more info on plesiosaurs try www.plesiosaur.com
                   regards
                    Nick Oliver.

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-dinosaur@usc.edu [mailto:owner-dinosaur@usc.edu]On Behalf Of
Jean-michel BENOIT
Sent: 08 July 2002 12:23
To: dino_rampage@hotmail.com
Cc: dinosaur@usc.edu
Subject: RE: Yup, back with more questions : )


Hi,
for point 2, you may want to take a look at Mike Everhart's excellent site
at
http://www.oceansofkansas.com/Ples-roam.html

Cheers,
Jean-Michel

-----Original Message-----
From: Dino Rampage [mailto:dino_rampage@hotmail.com]
Sent: Monday, July 08, 2002 12:37 PM
To: dinosaur@usc.edu
Subject: Yup, back with more questions : )


Hey hi everyone, it's me again to bother you with more questions. I know I 
haven't been around here for quite a while, I've been a little busy. I 
forgot to tell you in my self-intro that I'm currently serving my 2 1/2
year 
National Service as a defender of my sovereign nation (sounds really 
patriotic, doesn't it?) and August 9 is my country's National Day. Every 
year, Singapore organises a really grand parade and bash for all our 
citizens, and needless to say, our armed forces contribute a lot, in 
manpower, logistics and operations. Hence, the time I spend in front of a 
computer is considerably reduced for the next two months, since most of
the 
time I'm at the stadium helping out for the rehearsals. (But more on that 
later...)

Well, here's my questions:

1) It seems that virtually all Mesozoic marine reptiles were live-bearing, 
especially ichthyosaurs, elasmosaurs, pliosaurs, polycotylids and
mosasaurs. 
How about the other marine reptiles, like placodonts and "nothosaurs".
It's 
certain that the turtles were laying eggs, how about the seagoing crocs
like 
Teleosaurus, Steneosaurus, Metriorhynchus, Geosaurus & Thoracosaurus 
(egg-laying as well, right?)

2) I've read that elasmosaur necks were not at all that flexible, and were
a 
little just like diplodocid necks, being unable to move much vertically as 
well as horizontally. That would mean that those drawings of elasmosaurs 
with their necks curved to have them looking behind them are erroneous.
How 
true is this? And why then did elasmosaurs evolve such long necks (sounds
a 
lot like asking why sauropods & giraffes also evolved long necks)

3) Were there marine snakes in the Mesozoic? I know hydrophine and 
laticaudine elapids (ie sea snakes & sea kraits) evolved only in the 
Cenozoic. How about the more basal acrochordids (wart snakes, file snakes) 
This is a small family of 3 southeast asian & australian snakes, which are 
very sluggish, have very saggy & loose skin and wholly aquatic, giving
birth 
to live young. Are there fossil acrochordids? And what about those 
paleophids? Are they marine snakes & did they live during the Mesozoic?

4) And whle we're at marine reptiles, what genera & species were around at 
the time of the Campanian & the Maastrichtian in North America?? And what 
about the birds, ammonites, pterosaurs & fish also? Which marine fauna are 
present only in the Turonian & Santonian & which are present & which was 
present only after that? (And which were around throughout the entire Late 
Cretaceous?)



_________________________________________________________________
Chat with friends online, try MSN Messenger: http://messenger.msn.com