Extreme convergence in the body plans of an early suchian (Archosauria) and ornithomimid dinosaurs (Theropoda)

Publication Status is "Submitted" Or "In Press: 
LDEO Publication: 
Publication Type: 
Year of Publication: 
2006
Editor: 
Journal Title: 
Proceedings of the Royal Society B-Biological Sciences
Journal Date: 
May 7
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Volume: 
273
Issue: 
1590
Pages: 
1045-1048
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Publisher: 
ISBN Number: 
0962-8452
ISSN Number: 
Edition: 
Short Title: 
Accession Number: 
ISI:000236852700002
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Abstract: 

Living archosaurs comprise birds (dinosaurs) and crocodylians (suchians). The morphological diversity of birds and stem group dinosaurs is tremendous and well-documented. Suchia, the archosaurian group including crocodylians, is generally considered more conservative. Here, we report a new Late Triassic suchian archosaur with unusual, highly specialized features that are convergent with ornithomimid dinosaurs. Several derived features of the skull and postcranial skeleton are identical to conditions in ornithomimids. Such cases of extreme convergence in multiple regions of the skeleton in two distantly related vertebrate taxa are rare. This suggests that these archosaurs show iterative patterns of morphological evolution. It also suggests that this group of suchians occupied the adaptive zone that was occupied by ornithornimosaurs later in the Mesozoic.

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033MUTimes Cited:5Cited References Count:16

DOI: 
DOI 10.1098/rspb.2005.3426