Rahona ostromi

[PESELYG@APSU01.APSU.EDU]

Fox News Wire has a story posted at 7:49 p.m. ET, March 17, 1998,
entitled "Researchers find fossil of primitive bird from dinosaur
era" giving some details about _Rahona ostromi_ from a story which
will appear in next Friday's issue of _Science_.  The report quotes
Catherine A. Forster of SUNY Stony Brook School of Medicine, who says
the new fossil find may be "the strongest last nails in the coffin"
for those who doubt birds came from dinosaurs.  The bird is described
as closely resembling Archaeopteryx, with a feathered wing and many
bird features.  The fossil found doesn't include the head.  It had a
big killing claw on the second digit resembling that found on some
dinosaurs (velociraptor is mentioned).  It apparently dates from
much later than Archaeopteryx (the date is put at "more than 65
million years ago").  Its wingspan was at least two feet.  It is
described as "raven sized."  The name is supposed to mean "Ostrom's
menace from the clouds" in the local language in Madagascar.

(Fox News Wire can be reached via the Drudge Report at
http://www.drudgereport.com)

George Pesely, Austin Peay State Univ., Clarksville, Tennessee
peselyg@apsu01.apsu.edu    http://www.apsu.edu/~peselyg/