Re: New Deinocheirus specimens found, indicating basal ornithomimosaur

[Ruben Safir <ruben@mrbrklyn.com>]

On Wed, Nov 06, 2013 at 04:04:29PM +0000, evelyn sobielski wrote:
> Would the claws (and arm muscles) be suitable to uprooting and breaking open 
> cycad trunks or similar plants? IIRC the tricipital attachment scar should be 
> large and quite rugose in such a case. The claws at least of advanced 
> therizinosaurs don't seem well suited for such foraging activity (too long 
> and compressed, better for shearing off foliage), and as regards 
> non-dinosaurian competitors in such a niche there were few if any at that 
> time.
> 


Ants?

> 
> Regards,
> 
> Eike
> 
> 
> 
> 
> --------------------------------------------
> Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. <tholtz@umd.edu> schrieb am Mi, 6.11.2013:
> 
>  Betreff: RE: New Deinocheirus specimens found, indicating basal 
> ornithomimosaur
>  An: qi_leong@hotmail.com, "'Tim Williams'" <tijawi@gmail.com>, "'Dinosaur 
> Mailing List'" <dinosaur@usc.edu>
>  Datum: Mittwoch, 6. November, 2013 15:38 Uhr
>  
>  The manual claws of Deinocherius are
>  most definitely NOT raptorial! However, I understand when
>  just viewing them from a distance
>  they might appear so. Handling the actual specimens (or
>  casts), you find they are much thicker, much less pointed,
>  and so forth than
>  people commonly think: more like the claws of basal
>  therizinosauroids.
>  
>  Torvosaurus, Suchomimus, megaraptorans, etc., are much
>  better models for what a giant raptorial claw actually looks
>  like: far more
>  tapered, far more pointed, more elongate compared to the
>  articular facet, etc.
>  
>  Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
>  Email: tholtz@umd.edu   
>  Phone: 301-405-4084
>  Office: Centreville 1216   
>          
>  Senior Lecturer, Vertebrate Paleontology
>  Dept. of Geology, University of Maryland
>  http://www.geol.umd.edu/~tholtz/
>  Fax: 301-314-9661        
>  
>  Faculty Director, Science & Global Change Program,
>  College Park Scholars
>  http://www.geol.umd.edu/sgc
>  Fax: 301-314-9843
>  
>  Mailing Address:    Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
>             
>  Department of Geology
>             
>  Building 237, Room 1117
>             
>  University of Maryland
>             
>  College Park, MD 20742 USA

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