Re: Quo vadis, T. rex? [long]

["Nicholas J. Pharris" <pharrinj@PLU.edu>]

On Tue, 6 Feb 1996, Jeffrey Martz wrote:

> For the time 
> being, the only thing we can say is that birds are KNOWN to have feathers, 
> and dinosaurs are not.  

Good logic.  This means, however, that you cannot go around saying that 
feathers are an avian autapormorphy, as we know nothing about their 
presence or absence in avian outgroups (with the possible exception of 
_Pelecanimimus_).

In other words, you can't go around saying stuff like "Birds have 
feathers and dinosaurs didn't, so birds deserve a separate class."


Nick Pharris
Pacific Lutheran University
Tacoma, WA 98447
(206)535-8204
PharriNJ@PLU.edu

"If you can't convince them, confuse them." -- Harry S Truman