PADIAN & CHIAPPE REVIEW

[darren.naish@port.ac.uk]

Hey all. Everything you wanted to know about the early evolution of 
birds but were afraid to ask is in..

PADIAN, K. and CHIAPPE, L.M. 1998. The origin and early evolution of 
birds. _Biological Reviews_ 73: 1-42.

It made the cover. This is a nice, well written  and well illustrated 
review which covers most areas of contention and summarises all of 
the pertinent literature. It should help those biologists who have 
been wavering in their opinion due to recent Ruben et al. and 
Feduccia and Burke work that questions the nesting of birds within 
theropods. On digit homology, for example, Padian and Chiappe argue 
that the transformation sequence observed in the dinosaur cladogram 
outweighs the ambiguous developmental data. 

One criticism I have is their vague approach to the distribution of 
feathers in non-avians. They simply state that the discovery of 
_Sinosauropteryx_ proves the presence of feathers outside Aves, and 
the feathers therefore did not evolve in an aerodynamic context (pp. 
10-12). This simply will not do. There is no mention of 
_Protarchaeopteryx_, though Ji and Ji, 1997 is referred to.

I am amazed by the skull of _Shuvuuia_. Incredibly avian indeed 
(two-headed quadrate, confluent laterotemporal and orbital fossae 
with reduced postorbital bar, possible prokinesis, huge foramen 
magnum), and preservation to die for.

I'm off to Germany for a week (new theropods). Apologies in advance 
to Mickey if my mailbox overflows.. it shouldn't (he says).

"Once one appeared on a plant in my office, and my secretaries 
screamed and fled"

DARREN NAISH
darren.naish@port.ac.uk