Tiny Juvenile Dinosaur Fossil Sheds Light On Evolution Of Plant Eaters

Science Daily ^ | Oct. 24, 2008

[Soliton]

One of the smallest dinosaur skulls ever discovered has been identified and described by a team of scientists from London, Cambridge and Chicago. The skull would have been only 45 millimeters (less than two inches) in length. It belonged to a very young Heterodontosaurus, an early dinosaur. This juvenile weighed about 200 grams, less than two sticks of butter.

[Soliton]

Not much of a "thunder lizard".

[Citizen Blade]

I’ve read that the average dinosaur was about the size of a deer.

I wonder what they tasted like? I bet the big herbivores were similar to beef.

[Liberty1970]

The headline claims it ‘sheds light on evolution’ (a typical, empty, line). But the article describes a highly developed set of teeth that would be inconsistent with a common ancestry thesis. If I were an evolutionist I would say that this must be a more specialized side branch of the main trunk of the evolutionary tree based on the ‘bizarre suite of teeth.’ The main trunk is perpetually missing.

[Prunetacos]

[Prunetacos]

[allmendream]

Inconsistent with common ancestry between the Heterodontosaurus and what exactly? How would a highly developed set of teeth be inconsistent with common ancestry? Would you expect the Heterodontosaurus to have a badly developed set of teeth?

The more relevant feature that might make the Heterodontosaurus an unlikely progenitor of later herbivorous dinosaurs is the apparent lack of replacement teeth, not the fact that they were highly suited to its environment, diet, and lifestyle.

[Soliton]

The teeth suggest Heterodontosaurus practiced occasional omnivory: the canines were used for defense or for adding small animals such as insects to a diet composed mainly of plants

[Hoplite]

Would you expect the Heterodontosaurus to have a badly developed set of teeth?

Just the English ones.

[allmendream]

LOL!

I'm reminded of a Mike Myers skit on British toothpaste.

[Liberty1970]

The more relevant feature that might make the Heterodontosaurus an unlikely progenitor of later herbivorous dinosaurs is the apparent lack of replacement teeth, not the fact that they were highly suited to its environment, diet, and lifestyle.

That's another good point. I was just commenting on the fact that evolutionary pathways are supposed to be parsimonious. We could speculate about a given evolutionary pathway following a wild zig-zag pattern, but how likely would such speculations be to match reality? If we abandon parsimony then we can dream up whatever kind of evolutionary tree we want. And it will have nothing to do with the real world.

[hellbender]

Considering the close relationship of dinosaurs to birds, they probably “tasted just like chicken.”

[allmendream]

The Heterodontosaurus is probably a good example of a specialized dead end. The originator of the main branches of herbivorous dinosaurs was from around that time period, but the “specialized” highly adapted and non-replaceable teeth means it probably was successful for a while (perhaps longer than humans have lived upon the Earth), but didn't give rise to a plethora of herbivorous descendant species (who apparently did have replacement teeth).

Parsimony would indicate that a branch of teeth replacing carnivorous dinosaurs would give rise to the branches of teeth replacing herbivorous dinosaurs; not that the line would lose and then regain the tooth replacement function.

[Lucius Cornelius Sulla]

They were related to birds and alligators, not mammals. Therefore they tasted like chicken.