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	<title>Comments on: Intimate Secrets of Dinosaur Lives</title>
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	<link>http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/dinosaur/2012/02/intimate-secrets-of-dinosaur-lives/</link>
	<description>Where Paleontology Meets Pop Culture</description>
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		<title>By: Marko Bosscher</title>
		<link>http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/dinosaur/2012/02/intimate-secrets-of-dinosaur-lives/comment-page-1/#comment-5900</link>
		<dc:creator>Marko Bosscher</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 14 Feb 2012 23:36:40 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/dinosaur/?p=7267#comment-5900</guid>
		<description>I think the case for sexual dimorphism in Pterosaurs is strong, the variation in crests seems in itself sufficient evidence for dimorphism and the egg-bearing specimen is the clincher. 

For Dinosaurs the case is not strong. The difference between morphs is far more subtle; in ornamented species both sexes appear to have been ornamented (probably as a result of mutual sexual selection, as argued by Hone et al.), and because their eggs were relatively small compared to their body size they don&#039;t have the difference in hip-size that is seen in Pterosaurs.

The division between &quot;gracile&quot; and &quot;robust&quot; morphs in T. rex is interesting, but it&#039;s based on a very small sample size. We can&#039;t really rule out individual, geographic, or age variation yet. So while there is an indication that T. rex may have come in two morphs, with the more robust being females, this isn&#039;t especially well supported.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I think the case for sexual dimorphism in Pterosaurs is strong, the variation in crests seems in itself sufficient evidence for dimorphism and the egg-bearing specimen is the clincher. </p>
<p>For Dinosaurs the case is not strong. The difference between morphs is far more subtle; in ornamented species both sexes appear to have been ornamented (probably as a result of mutual sexual selection, as argued by Hone et al.), and because their eggs were relatively small compared to their body size they don&#8217;t have the difference in hip-size that is seen in Pterosaurs.</p>
<p>The division between &#8220;gracile&#8221; and &#8220;robust&#8221; morphs in T. rex is interesting, but it&#8217;s based on a very small sample size. We can&#8217;t really rule out individual, geographic, or age variation yet. So while there is an indication that T. rex may have come in two morphs, with the more robust being females, this isn&#8217;t especially well supported.</p>
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		<title>By: Leigh</title>
		<link>http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/dinosaur/2012/02/intimate-secrets-of-dinosaur-lives/comment-page-1/#comment-5897</link>
		<dc:creator>Leigh</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 14 Feb 2012 05:01:58 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/dinosaur/?p=7267#comment-5897</guid>
		<description>There&#039;s also the direct method: fossils of pregnant females (whether that&#039;s &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livescience.com/10438-meet-ancient-flying-reptile-egg.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;eggs&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/08/110811-plesiosaurs-live-birth-fossils-young-science-chiappe-dinosaurs-fetus/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;live young&lt;/a&gt;).  I know, not actually dinosaurs, but the principle&#039;s the same.

Interesting that the pterosaur found with an egg was of the crestless, wide-hipped variety.  A very small sample size indeed, but since those variations are found in many pterosaur species, it does seem like it might be sexual dimorphism.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>There&#8217;s also the direct method: fossils of pregnant females (whether that&#8217;s <a href="http://www.livescience.com/10438-meet-ancient-flying-reptile-egg.html" rel="nofollow">eggs</a> or <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/08/110811-plesiosaurs-live-birth-fossils-young-science-chiappe-dinosaurs-fetus/" rel="nofollow">live young</a>).  I know, not actually dinosaurs, but the principle&#8217;s the same.</p>
<p>Interesting that the pterosaur found with an egg was of the crestless, wide-hipped variety.  A very small sample size indeed, but since those variations are found in many pterosaur species, it does seem like it might be sexual dimorphism.</p>
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		<title>By: Herman Diaz</title>
		<link>http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/dinosaur/2012/02/intimate-secrets-of-dinosaur-lives/comment-page-1/#comment-5895</link>
		<dc:creator>Herman Diaz</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 13 Feb 2012 22:27:57 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/dinosaur/?p=7267#comment-5895</guid>
		<description>&quot;Paleontologists have hypothesized sexual dimorphism for multiple dinosaur species, from Protoceratops to Tyrannosaurus. None of the proposed cases is especially well supported.&quot;

I wouldn&#039;t say that, given the following quote.

Quoting Larson (See &quot;Conclusion&quot;: http://books.google.com/books?id=5WH9RnfKco4C&amp;pg=PA122&amp;dq=%22this+study+examined+34%22&amp;hl=en&amp;ei=m0SjTP_COML7lweuv4DhBA&amp;sa=X&amp;oi=book_result&amp;ct=result&amp;resnum=4&amp;ved=0CDUQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&amp;q=%22this%20study%20examined%2034%22&amp;f=false ): &quot;By use of morphometric analysis, gracile and robust morphs are confirmed to be present within the clade Tyrannosaurus rex. Extant phyloge- netic bracketing (comparison with living crocodiles and birds) leads us to conclude that the existence of these 2 morphs most parsimoniously repre- sents sexual dimorphism. The discovery of medullary bone within the medullary cavity of a robust specimen of T. rex established MOR 1125 as female (Schweitzer et al. 2005), and therefore all other robust T. rex specimens are, in all probability, also female.&quot;</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>&#8220;Paleontologists have hypothesized sexual dimorphism for multiple dinosaur species, from Protoceratops to Tyrannosaurus. None of the proposed cases is especially well supported.&#8221;</p>
<p>I wouldn&#8217;t say that, given the following quote.</p>
<p>Quoting Larson (See &#8220;Conclusion&#8221;: <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=5WH9RnfKco4C&#038;pg=PA122&#038;dq=%22this+study+examined+34%22&#038;hl=en&#038;ei=m0SjTP_COML7lweuv4DhBA&#038;sa=X&#038;oi=book_result&#038;ct=result&#038;resnum=4&#038;ved=0CDUQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&#038;q=%22this%20study%20examined%2034%22&#038;f=false" rel="nofollow">http://books.google.com/books?id=5WH9RnfKco4C&#038;pg=PA122&#038;dq=%22this+study+examined+34%22&#038;hl=en&#038;ei=m0SjTP_COML7lweuv4DhBA&#038;sa=X&#038;oi=book_result&#038;ct=result&#038;resnum=4&#038;ved=0CDUQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&#038;q=%22this%20study%20examined%2034%22&#038;f=false</a> ): &#8220;By use of morphometric analysis, gracile and robust morphs are confirmed to be present within the clade Tyrannosaurus rex. Extant phyloge- netic bracketing (comparison with living crocodiles and birds) leads us to conclude that the existence of these 2 morphs most parsimoniously repre- sents sexual dimorphism. The discovery of medullary bone within the medullary cavity of a robust specimen of T. rex established MOR 1125 as female (Schweitzer et al. 2005), and therefore all other robust T. rex specimens are, in all probability, also female.&#8221;</p>
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		<title>By: Jon Tennant</title>
		<link>http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/dinosaur/2012/02/intimate-secrets-of-dinosaur-lives/comment-page-1/#comment-5894</link>
		<dc:creator>Jon Tennant</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 13 Feb 2012 20:37:27 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/dinosaur/?p=7267#comment-5894</guid>
		<description>http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02724634.2011.557112 - Here&#039;s an actual example of sexual dimorphism in Kentrosaurus femora! Good ol&#039; geometric morphometrics.. :)</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02724634.2011.557112" rel="nofollow">http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02724634.2011.557112</a> &#8211; Here&#8217;s an actual example of sexual dimorphism in Kentrosaurus femora! Good ol&#8217; geometric morphometrics.. <img src='http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/dinosaur/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
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