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Re: [dinosaur] Liaoningosaurus ate fish (!!??)
This is an interesting hypothesis, but let us not forget the possibility
that the fish in the belly could be post-mortem associations. (After
all, finding a gar in the belly of a hadrosaur is not evidence of
piscivory in duckbills!)
On 2016-08-28 09:46, Brian Lauret wrote:
I think it is worth mentioning that according to Victoria Arbour, who
researches ankylosaurs, Little L's plastron is actually misidentified
belly scales (see https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__pseudoplocephalus.com_2014_04_02_scaling-2Dup_&d=DQICAg&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=Ry_mO4IFaUmGof_Yl9MyZgecRCKHn5g4z1CYJgFW9SI&m=ls3_qEyVOCCJjjGHPq-2jZenRkmxvhyvYrseiF2u8eI&s=k3Pduly9AngRzJfsGQ8IL68PPrWDNLQZxYaP3R2QK0Y&e=
[2]). I have no opinion on the matter.
Arbor provides a close up photo of the supposed armor on that link. Note
that it is NOT like the plastron of a turtle or the belly armor of some
placodonts. I strongly suspect that she is correct. (And this probably
IS the case of the remarkable preservation you refer to in the next
paragraph).
Lastly and most out there, an aquatic _Liaoningosaurus_ might also be
an alternative explanation for its lack of preserved integument if
this was actually a derived, naked-bodied ornithischian that had lost
all integument because of adapting said lifestyle. Does the critter
hail from rocks that preserve soft tissue impressions, most notably
feathers, or is this a moot suggestion of mine anyway?
It is from the Yixian, but keep in mind that preservation in any
unit--even across the same bedding plane on a meter-scale--can be
radically different. (These sites are remarkable because they CAN
preserve fine details, not because they MUST preserve them. :-) ).
--
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
Email: tholtz@umd.edu Phone: 301-405-4084
Senior Lecturer, Vertebrate Paleontology
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