RE: seed-eating theropods

[Dino Guy Ralph <dinoguy@sbcglobal.net>]

The oldest record of seed consumption among dinosaurs is the specimen of
_Jeholornis_ (a long-tailed bird which may be referred to _Shenzhouraptor_)
with 50 seeds in its gut.  It had an array of sharp little teeth in its
mouth rather than a toothless beak but its dentition does not does not
resemble that of _Incisivosaurus_ (_Protarchaeopteryx_).  That is not to say
that basal oviraptorosaurs could not have consumed seeds, but we don't have
any published record of this yet.  

It is possible that _Jeholornis_ consumed fleshy plant parts that just
happened to include seeds (such as small ginkgo "fruits").  The _Jeholornis_
specimen contains seeds, but the seeds don't appear to have been broken up,
nor does the specimen contain gastroliths so far as I know.  

On the other hand, whereas one _Yanornis_ specimen contained fish remains
(and no gastroliths), another contained both gastroliths and unidentified
plant material (which looked something like stems rather than seeds in the
fuzzy photo I saw in the PDF), so _Yanornis_ appears to have been
omnivorous, perhaps altering its diet in response to changing seasons.

------Ralph

Dino Guy Ralph
Docent at the California Academy of Sciences
Dinosaur and Fossil Education
Member of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-DINOSAUR@usc.edu [mailto:owner-DINOSAUR@usc.edu] On Behalf Of
Anthony Docimo
Sent: Tuesday, December 26, 2006 2:08 PM
To: dinosaur@usc.edu
Subject: re: seed-eating therapods


>Subject: Re: Gastric stones of dinosaurs were not for milling food !
>Date: Tue, 26 Dec 2006 21:06:23 +0100 (CET)


>The reason why modern birds have gastric stones,
>basically, cannot apply to sauropods. Seed-eating
>theropods (was there such a thing?), maybe.

Could such a creature have evolved?  Would a non-beaked* seed-eating 
theropod have resembled Incisaraptor(sp) more than Therizinosaurs?


* = for specificness' sake, I'm referring to modern birds; not to Oviraptor.

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