RE: Triassic protofeathers and fake-heads

["Williams, Tim" <TiJaWi@agron.iastate.edu>]

Rob Gay wrote:

>But I think once again the fact that the large majority of
>animals (in this case, herbivores) were non-dinosaurian would lead one
>to the conclusion that therapsids, and non-dinosaurian archosaurs were >the
main prey items of said dinosaurs.

Or rhynchosaurs.  Or arthropods (as Ken noted).  I guess my comments were in
reply to the assertion that "the predators of the first dinosaurs weren't
dinosaurs anyway" when there is abundant evidence to the contrary.  The
Dinosauria already included several predatory guilds by the Norian. 

>When we're talking about predator/prey relationships in the Triassic, it
>is very important to remember that with very few exceptions, were
>dinosaurs a majority, or even a large minority, of the ecosystem.

Agreed.


Tim


------------------------------------------------------------ 

Timothy J. Williams 

USDA-ARS Researcher 
Agronomy Hall 
Iowa State University 
Ames IA 50014 

Phone: 515 294 9233 
Fax:   515 294 3163