RE: Tyrannosaur analogs in the south?

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

> From: owner-DINOSAUR@usc.edu [mailto:owner-DINOSAUR@usc.edu]On Behalf Of
> Richard W. Travsky
>
> > The Late Cretaceous top predators of Gondwana were the Abelisauridae.
> > Not as big as the tyrannosaurids, nor were they particularly cursorial,
> > but like their distant northern kin they had stumpy arms.
>
> Would that be a result of common origins or "lifestyle"?

Lifestyle (aka "convergence"), as more primitive tyrannosauroids (_Guanlong_, 
for example) and other coelurosaurs and basal
tetanurines have much longer arms than tyrannosaurids.

                Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
        Senior Lecturer, Vertebrate Paleontology
Department of Geology           Director, Earth, Life & Time Program
University of Maryland          College Park Scholars
        Mailing Address:
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