Re: Dermal coverings

[Dinogeorge@aol.com]

In a message dated 9/5/99 6:26:22 PM EST, dbensen@gotnet.net writes:

<< Therefore, any clads in-between advanced birds and dinosaurs
 such as _Sinosauropteryx_ must have had some sort of feathers too.
 Other fossils (those new therizinosaurs with feathers) verifies this
 conclusion. >>

Earlier this very evening I had an opportunity to examine casts of a new 
segnosaur from the Early Cretaceous of Utah. Whew! All I can say is, well, 
segnosaurs certainly are theropods after all--the slender, boomerang-shaped 
furcula shows this, as well as some of the other material--and I would now 
say they're likely even closer to avialan birds than dromaeosaurids are. 
There's even a chance they're closer to modern birds than Archaeopteryx is 
(based on the backward pubis, tooth shape in this specimen, and a few other 
features).