Re: Paedomorphosis ( Re: BARYONYX' CLAWS )

[Dinogeorge <Dinogeorge@aol.com>]

In a message dated 98-04-11 13:04:50 EDT, m_troutman@hotmail.com writes:

<< Bats have muscles that reach down their entire belly and have 
 capacity for increased oxygen intake. Bats have very strong muscles and 
 they need bracing like birds do ( their clavicles act like the 
 strut-like coracoid ).  >>

Of course they do. Muscles they need; the point is that they don't >need<
those uniquely avian pectoral muscles to fly. Bracing in pre-modern birds was
provided in large part by the thick furcula, and the flight musculature in
pre-modern birds (which isn't preserved in any specimen that I know of) could
well have resembled that of bats in its overall architecture. Stiffening of
the back was aided by the addition of hyposphene-hypantrum articulations
between the vertebrae, a feature commonly found in theropods (including small
ones) that probably arose in conjunction with the development of flight and
was retained in the large, flightless forms for weight support. There are all
kinds of ways to accomplish the structural changes needed for flight, most of
which result in creatures that can fly to a greater or lesser extent.