RE: Dino/bird amphibians

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

> From: owner-dinosaur@usc.edu [mailto:owner-dinosaur@usc.edu]On Behalf Of
> Harri Hirvelä
>
> Hi.
>
> Thinking about the birds and their feathery dinosaur forefathers, have
> any one ever found or suspected to find, an amphibian dinosaur that
> would have been living in the same ecological niche like the amphibian
> birds of today? If so, which fossil? If not, why not?

Ichthyornis seems to have been comparable to modern gulls: a land-dwelling bird 
that fed in marine units.

Both Longipteryx and Longirostravis are probable fresh-water birds: one with a 
beak adapted to probing for small invertebrates in
the mud, the other a possible fish-catcher.

On the big scale, I and others have suggested before that the ecology of 
spinosaurid dinosaurs is something like a heron, only on a
MUCH bigger scale.

                Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
                Vertebrate Paleontologist
Department of Geology           Director, Earth, Life & Time Program
University of Maryland          College Park Scholars
        Mailing Address:
                Building 237, Room 1117
                College Park, MD  20742

http://www.geol.umd.edu/~tholtz/
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