http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/dinosaur/2010/06/new-study-probes-the-details-of-dinosaur-bites/ Where Paleontology Meets Pop Culture Sat, 22 Dec 2012 16:48:38 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4 http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/dinosaur/2010/06/new-study-probes-the-details-of-dinosaur-bites/comment-page-1/#comment-2191 Anonymous Tue, 15 Jun 2010 20:17:31 +0000 http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/dinosaur/?p=3364#comment-2191 I've actually heard one hypothesis in a book (I forget the name) on Triassic life that might explain why the coelophysoids (here being used as the paraphyletic group containing Coelophysis and its kin plus the dilophosaurids) have such strange jaws. The idea was that coelophysoids had developed into the ultimate generalist predators, having a specialized notched snout with quick bites for snatching up small prey (or fish, as the St. George dinosaur site shows), and at the same time having large clawed hands for attacking larger prey more their size. Perhaps this ability to feed on both large and small prey played a factor into why the coelophysoids got lucky and survived the T-J extinction, while similar herrerasaurids and rauisuchians did not. I’ve actually heard one hypothesis in a book (I forget the name) on Triassic life that might explain why the coelophysoids (here being used as the paraphyletic group containing Coelophysis and its kin plus the dilophosaurids) have such strange jaws. The idea was that coelophysoids had developed into the ultimate generalist predators, having a specialized notched snout with quick bites for snatching up small prey (or fish, as the St. George dinosaur site shows), and at the same time having large clawed hands for attacking larger prey more their size. Perhaps this ability to feed on both large and small prey played a factor into why the coelophysoids got lucky and survived the T-J extinction, while similar herrerasaurids and rauisuchians did not.

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