Re: New alvarezsaurid

[Jeffrey Martz <martz@holly.ColoState.EDU>]

> In this context, this is hardly illuminating. I don't think there's any way
> you can show that a maniraptoran hand makes maniraptorans better predators
> than the looser, relatively shorter, more mobile hand of earlier theropods.
> Can you, for example, accumulate statistics on the kill ratios among
> maniraptorans versus those among earlier theropods, and then relate these kill
> ratios to the structure of the hand?
> In the BCF paradigm, the structure of the maniraptoran hand doesn't need this
> kind of explanation; this kind of hand is retained in cursorial, nonflying
> maniraptorans simply because it was present in their flying ancestors.

    Can you show the maniraptorian hand makes a better flyer then a
looser, shorter, more mobile hand?  Where are YOUR statistics? Flight
efficiency studies among three fingered birds and flyers with four and
five fingered hands....?

LN Jeff