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ANOTHER Megaraptoran
Topic Started: Jul 21 2016, 08:13 PM (1,924 Views)
Incinerox
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Āeksiot Zaldrīzoti

Odd how they're so oddly proportioned for allosauroid roles. Especially if you consider allosauroids as large prey specialists. And the fact that the most allosauroid of the allosauroids, the carcharodontosaurids, coexisted with megaraptorans, which seem to be more partial to small, swift prey.

It doesn't help that we don't have much from the neovenatorids either.

At this point, we actually have more to compare for megaraptoran evolution than that of neovenatorids, which, assuming megaraptora is moved to tyrannosauroidea, is only known from Neovenator and Chilantaisaurus.

And only Neovenator itself is actually known from anything meaningful.
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Even
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Then again, the "allosauroids are large prey specialists" is not dogmatically binding... Add to that the fact that small prey are also quite lucrative, and we have precendence for natural selection to go that way...
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Incinerox
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Āeksiot Zaldrīzoti

It's not dogmatically binding, sure. But when you're a +12m carnosaur and you coexist with, say, a 6-9m megaraptorid, and you both coexisted with a range of different herbivore types, it is reasonable to say that the overlap between regular prey choices between the two theropods was minimal. The smaller, lighter theropod more likely pursuing smaller, faster herbivores and the larger theropod tackling bigger game - simply because sauropods would have been out of the question for a featherweight megaraptorid, while carnosaurs would be wasting their time trying to haul their bulk after a zig-zagging, deer sized ornithischian.
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stargatedalek
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I'm not slow! That's just my moe!

I think rather than the same prey niche, megaraptorids were adapted/adapting to a hunting method more similar to carnosaurs then to other tyrannosauroids.
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Incinerox
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Āeksiot Zaldrīzoti

It's hard to say. Not even carnosaurs had such enlarged arms and hands compared to their own bodysize. And their hands were still nowhere near as flexible as a megaraptoran's.

I almost want to compare them to massively scaled up compsognathids more than anything else.
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the dark phoenix
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King of wonderlandia

Incinerox
Jul 30 2016, 08:12 PM
I almost want to compare them to massively scaled up compsognathids more than anything else.
What are you doing in my head? Get out of that nasty place.


I honestly have been thinking the same thing that they are basically freakishly huge compies that have claws that put spino to shame.

I'm wrong obviously because megaraptors are not compies but it is still a funny idea.
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