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Silesaurs
Topic Started: Jan 14 2014, 11:43 PM (113 Views)
the dark phoenix
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the dark phoenix of wonderland
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I noticed most of them have heads and teeth more suited for being predators with few looking like actual herbivores.

Then I thought of Eoraptor and it's ancestral sauropod status.


Could we have two Silosaur lines, one predatory and one herbivore...y?

The predatory ones can rule certain regions in the early jurassic but die out by the mid jurassic.

Meanwhile the herbivore Silosaurs survive ending up as sauropod-like animals but something happens near the miocene and dicynodonts take the niche.

Would this be ok?
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DK1000
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Harr harr harr, I'm abolsutely hysterical!

*Ahem*

Right then, silesaurid business.

the dark phoenix
Jan 14 2014, 11:43 PM
I noticed most of them have heads and teeth more suited for being predators with few looking like actual herbivores.

Then I thought of Eoraptor and it's ancestral sauropod status.


Could we have two Silosaur lines, one predatory and one herbivore...y?
I do recall there being a carnivorous silesaurids out there (Lewisuchus I think), but I have to disagree with them being more suited for predation than herbivory. Nearly all the silesaurids with jaw and tooth elements preserved are (with one possible exception) suited for eating plants and being a herbivore. So while carnivorous silesaurids aren't out of the question (would be quite an interesting development, IMO), they appear to be the exception rather than the rule.

the dark phoenix
Jan 14 2014, 11:43 PM
The predatory ones can rule certain regions in the early jurassic but die out by the mid jurassic.

Meanwhile the herbivore Silosaurs survive ending up as sauropod-like animals but something happens near the miocene and dicynodonts take the niche.

Would this be ok?
Sauropods might not be the only comparison to make with silesaurids, I suspect they're channelling some ornithischia in there too. Like ornithischians, silesaurids have a predentary bone, and although their hip bones aren't swept back like ornithischians, the shape of primitive ornithischian hips like Pisanosaurus has been compared to silesaurid, so presumably if ornithischians can sweep back their pelvis, silesaurids should be able to do it too.

In that sense, possible silesaurid descendants would resemble the love-children of both sauropods and ornithischians; similar in overall shape to sauropods but lacking the huge gut that sticks out in sauropods.

And I don't see any particular reason why silesaur-opods couldn't coexist with high-browsing dicynodonts, similar to how giraffes and elephants can both browse at high levels without being at war with each other.
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the dark phoenix
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DK1000
Jan 15 2014, 12:42 AM
Spoiler: click to toggle

Harr harr harr, I'm abolsutely hysterical!

*Ahem*

Right then, silesaurid business.

the dark phoenix
Jan 14 2014, 11:43 PM
I noticed most of them have heads and teeth more suited for being predators with few looking like actual herbivores.

Then I thought of Eoraptor and it's ancestral sauropod status.


Could we have two Silosaur lines, one predatory and one herbivore...y?
I do recall there being a carnivorous silesaurids out there (Lewisuchus I think), but I have to disagree with them being more suited for predation than herbivory. Nearly all the silesaurids with jaw and tooth elements preserved are (with one possible exception) suited for eating plants and being a herbivore. So while carnivorous silesaurids aren't out of the question (would be quite an interesting development, IMO), they appear to be the exception rather than the rule.

the dark phoenix
Jan 14 2014, 11:43 PM
The predatory ones can rule certain regions in the early jurassic but die out by the mid jurassic.

Meanwhile the herbivore Silosaurs survive ending up as sauropod-like animals but something happens near the miocene and dicynodonts take the niche.

Would this be ok?
Sauropods might not be the only comparison to make with silesaurids, I suspect they're channelling some ornithischia in there too. Like ornithischians, silesaurids have a predentary bone, and although their hip bones aren't swept back like ornithischians, the shape of primitive ornithischian hips like Pisanosaurus has been compared to silesaurid, so presumably if ornithischians can sweep back their pelvis, silesaurids should be able to do it too.

In that sense, possible silesaurid descendants would resemble the love-children of both sauropods and ornithischians; similar in overall shape to sauropods but lacking the huge gut that sticks out in sauropods.

And I don't see any particular reason why silesaur-opods couldn't coexist with high-browsing dicynodonts, similar to how giraffes and elephants can both browse at high levels without being at war with each other.
Ok so saurosilosauropods can exist in the present. I'm Ok with that.

They'd basically look like sauropods on slimfast?

What of the carnivore offshoot? Since everything was connected in the Triassic do we have a excuse for Aussie Silosaur predators?

If so I'd think fictodilophids and Geosuchids would live well besides them but I don't know about the rauchies.
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DK1000
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the dark phoenix
Jan 15 2014, 03:54 AM
Ok so saurosilosauropods can exist in the present. I'm Ok with that.

They'd basically look like sauropods on slimfast?
More or less, if that's the route we decide to go down, I can picture them being able to navigate forests easier, being able to weave through the trees fairly easily.

the dark phoenix
Jan 15 2014, 03:54 AM
What of the carnivore offshoot? Since everything was connected in the Triassic do we have a excuse for Aussie Silosaur predators?
Feasibly they could end up where Australia is, but there's quite a long time to go before Australia splits off permanently from the rest of the world, so Australia isn't as much the "Lost World" as would be for other projects.

the dark phoenix
Jan 15 2014, 03:54 AM
If so I'd think fictodilophids and Geosuchids would live well besides them but I don't know about the rauchies.
By the end of the Triassic rauisuchids were pretty large, heading towards bipedalism and were essentially filling in the role of large theropods, which looks like the position they hold on EN, so carnivorous silesaurids should be safe (in niche terms of course).

Another possible niche I can see silesaurids in is perhaps an equid-esque niche; mid-sized, quadrupedal, fast-running herbivores.
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the dark phoenix
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DK1000
Jan 15 2014, 07:03 PM
the dark phoenix
Jan 15 2014, 03:54 AM
Ok so saurosilosauropods can exist in the present. I'm Ok with that.

They'd basically look like sauropods on slimfast?
More or less, if that's the route we decide to go down, I can picture them being able to navigate forests easier, being able to weave through the trees fairly easily.

the dark phoenix
Jan 15 2014, 03:54 AM
What of the carnivore offshoot? Since everything was connected in the Triassic do we have a excuse for Aussie Silosaur predators?
Feasibly they could end up where Australia is, but there's quite a long time to go before Australia splits off permanently from the rest of the world, so Australia isn't as much the "Lost World" as would be for other projects.

the dark phoenix
Jan 15 2014, 03:54 AM
If so I'd think fictodilophids and Geosuchids would live well besides them but I don't know about the rauchies.
By the end of the Triassic rauisuchids were pretty large, heading towards bipedalism and were essentially filling in the role of large theropods, which looks like the position they hold on EN, so carnivorous silesaurids should be safe (in niche terms of course).

Another possible niche I can see silesaurids in is perhaps an equid-esque niche; mid-sized, quadrupedal, fast-running herbivores.
Ok I'm good with skinny pseudo-sauropods


I still think carnivore Silesaurs are doomed. With Dracosuchids, other Rauisuchids, and their Fellow Dinosauroforms

Could they possible develop some form of horns? I also see antelope-like silesaurs now that you mentioned that.
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Jack Frost
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Bare in mind most of the camposuchids are relatively small. Most would be the size of velociraptor or dromeaosaurus. They don't start getting bigger until the middle cretacious, which is long after your carnivorous silesaurs die out.
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the dark phoenix
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camposuchids?


Also I thought the predatory Silesaurs can be like the herrarasaurs of our time. Both had their little time of rule then they died out with other things out competing them.
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Jack Frost
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The plain hunting dracosuchids
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the dark phoenix
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Jack Frost
Jan 17 2014, 07:16 AM
The plain hunting dracosuchids
Oh.....

Maybe they will compete in the Triassic and Jurassic but later the camposuchids win.
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Jack Frost
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That's just it. Camposuchids wouldn't be competition. The majority of them are large enough to pose a serious threat, and those that are aren't that common. It's not until the mid creatacious that there would be any real competition.
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the dark phoenix
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So how would carnivorous silesaurs die off then?
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Dilophoraptor
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I was looking at a Skull drawing of a Silesaurus, and this was the result

Posted Image

I thought the Predentary Bone was a tooth, but i don't think that would change it too much.
BEHOLD, the shellfish eating Silesaurus. Probably about 4 feet from the hip, Human height with the neck in a typical position.
Using their Long Tooth/Beak/Predentary bone to comb for hiding crabs and other Shellfish, maybe even having flat upper teeth to crack them open, this Tooth/Beak/Predentary bone can also be used for defence by jabbing it at attackers.
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