Re: Pygostyle

["Grant Harding" <granth@cyberus.ca>]

Jaime A. Headden wrote:
>  Given that *Sino* does have the feature (not the
>pygostyle) this doesn't neccesarily mean anything
>besides the early development of the stiff tail
>balancing feature in the group, that
>"hypsilophodontians" and pachycephalosaurs also
>possess. Go fig.

Yes, of course.  All I meant was that if _Sinornithosaurus_ *didn't* have a
stiffened tail, then it definitely could *not* be the ancestor of the
pygostyle.  I'm not saying that if he does, it must be.

>  What version of Deinonychosauria? Sensu Gautier?
>Sensu Padian et al.? Do you include Troodontidae in
>this, or not? The inclusion of specific taxa is the
>dispute, and as the Ostrom Symposium demonstrated,
>there's evidence they are closer to each other than
>either is to other taxa, from independant studies.
>Check out the posts on "Ostrom" in the archives for
>further details, but I think Norell and Martin were
>the two main (or only) presenters of this phylogeny.

Hmm.  I was using the definition of Deinonychosauria employed on T. Mike
Keesey's site, which is something like {_Deinonychus_ > a whole bunch of
other theropod genera, one of which is _Troodon_}.  I don't know whose
_sensu_ that is.

>  *Archeopteryx* and *Rahonavis* do have stiffened
>tails formed by elongate centra and chevrons, more so
>in *Rahonavis* and dromies than in Archie, while the
>only specimen of *Unenlagia* lacks caudal material
>(same if *Megaraptor* is referrable to Unen).


Thanks!

>  Speaking of Unen, what is the correct
>pronounciation? Following Spanish rules, it's
>yoo-nyen-LAG-ee-yah; following Latin, it's
>oon-EHN-lahg-yah or oo-nehn-LAHG-ee-yah. Ben, you got
>a handle on the Mapuche rules on this, or what?

I seem to remember Novas calling it oon-en-LIE-a, but who knows.

-Grant

--
Grant Harding
High school student/amateur paleontologist
granth@cyberus.ca
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