Re: Important feathered dinosaurs

[NJPharris@aol.com]

In a message dated 12/7/1999 4:08:00 PM Pacific Standard Time, 
ornstn@home.com writes:

> >Personally,...I like Protoavis in that it indicates the presence of a true
>  >avian form  as early as the Triassic. (feathers assumed from the "quill
>  >nodes" found in the wing structure).
>  
>Except that it doesn't according to most authorities, and there are no 
>"quill nodes" (just a ridge that might possibly have provided attachment 
>for something, maybe).

Um, I think that's _Avimimus_.  In the case of _Protoavis_, the problem is 
that not everyone can see Chatterjee's "quill nodes".

_Protoavis_ certainly has some rather birdish-looking *pieces*, but it is so 
beat-up and fragmentary that it is difficult for me to assign it a huge 
amount of significance until better material turns up, particularly since we 
have such a smooth series of Jurassic and Cretaceous birds that clearly seem 
to represent the main line of avian evolution.

--Nick P.