COELOPHYSIS CANNIBALISM REVISITED

[darren.naish@port.ac.uk]

Re: alleged cannibalism in GRT, the Jaimester wrote...

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Should remark [again, apparently ignored by some] that 
some presented though unpublished (except in abstract 
form) work by Rob Gay has questioned this view, the only 
taxon to exhibit any evidence of having fed on juveniles of 
its own species. The data being predicated on a 
misobservation of juveniles beneath the ribcage rather than 
within in.
-----------------------

Though it is obviously only a popular text I would also like 
people to note that an argument more or less identical to 
Rob's (minus his idea about stomach size) was published in 
Martill & Naish's 2000 book _Walking With Dinosaurs: 
The Evidence_. The relevant text is on p. 29 in the section 
'Was _Coelophysis_ a cannibal?'. For those of you that don't 
have this book (here in the Uk it appeared in discount book 
shops just before xmas) here it is....

'However, some doubts now surround the idea that the two 
New York _Coelophysis_ specimens really do contain 
juveniles within their skeletons. Further examination 
suggests that the adult specimens are simply lying on top of 
the juvenile skeletons. Detailed investigation is needed to 
determine whether or not this is correct. If it is, the idea of 
cannibalism in _Coelophysis_ lacks material evidence at 
present'.

I've told Rob about this but don't know if he's been able to 
cite it.

-- 
Darren Naish
School of Earth & Environmental Sciences
University of Portsmouth UK, PO1 3QL

email: darren.naish@port.ac.uk
tel: 023 92846045