RE: Negative allometry in tyrannosaurids?

["Thomas R. Holtz, Jr." <tholtz@geol.umd.edu>]

> From: Jordan Mallon [mailto:j_mallon@hotmail.com]
>
> I don't know what shape the juvenile specimens that we know of
> are in, but
> does anyone know if the tyrannosaurids exhibit negative allometry with
> respect to their forearms?  And if they do, what would this
> suggest?  That
> the arms were useful at a young age and became progressively less
> so as the
> animal grew older?
> With the presence of long arms in _Eotyrannus_, I would expect
> the answer to
> be "yes" if we consider the idea that "ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny."
> Just wonderin'.  Thanks.
>
Keep your eyes peeled: in about two or three months a paper is coming out
(not by me) addressing many aspects of ontogenetic (and to a degree
phylogenetic) allometry in Tyrannosauridae.

I would therefore prefer to wait until it is out before answering that
question.

                Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
                Vertebrate Paleontologist
Department of Geology           Director, Earth, Life & Time Program
University of Maryland          College Park Scholars
                College Park, MD  20742
http://www.geol.umd.edu/~tholtz/tholtz.htm
http://www.geol.umd.edu/~jmerck/eltsite
Phone:  301-405-4084    Email:  tholtz@geol.umd.edu
Fax (Geol):  301-314-9661       Fax (CPS-ELT): 301-405-0796