Re: linguistic analogy

[Jeff Poling <jpoling@infinet.com>]

At 05:22 PM 2/11/96 -0500, Rob Meyerson wrote:

>One possible problem with this, is the breastbone seen in all bird species, but
>not seen in any dinosaur (including Archy).  It is possible that this feature
>succeeds in marking birds as "different enough" to place in their own category?

   It's my understanding that many dinosaurs have deep sternums.  The
sternum of _Mononykus_ is referred to as "keeled," as is that of
_Archaeopteryx bavarica_.  The only difference is that modern birds have a
HUGE sternum, whereas in certain theropods it was merely large.  Can a size
difference be sufficient to mark something as "different enough" for its own
category?

** Jeff's Dinosaur Page. Home of THE DINOSTORE ** "Those who trade a        **
** (for all your Dinosaur product needs),      ** little freedom for a      **
** Jeff's Journal of Dinosaur Paleontology,    ** little security will soon **
** and The Dinosaur Mailing List Encyclopedia. ** find they have none of    **
** http://www.infinet.com/~jpoling/            ** either." -- Jeff Poling   **