Re: Giders to Fliers?

[Stephen_Gatesy@Brown.edu (Steve Gatesy)]

Casey Tucker wrote:

>If I remember correctly, part of Gatesy's hypothesis concerning the
>decoupling of the hind limbs of archaeopteryx was due to the fact that
>it had a partial arboreal, and partial terrestrial lifestyle.  Or at
>least this is where Archaeopteryx came out on those trivariant diagrams
>that involved three different variables (lengths of the bones of the
>leg--I don't have the paper in front of me right now so I abologize).

Apology accepted, but you do not remember correctly.  I can assure you that
neither the locomotor module hypothesis (with Ken Dial) nor the ternary
study of limb proportions (with Kevin Middleton) said much of anything
about an arboreal lifestyle in Archaeopteryx.  One conclusion of the hind
limb study was that proportions are often poor indicators of locomotor
habit.  As for modules, we proposed that the tail and hind limb were
beginning to decouple in fully terrestrial animals.

>Regardless of the reason, Gatesy's data suggests a partial
>arboreal/terrestrial lifestyle.

I disagree.  I can hear Tom Holtz in my head- "Please read the paper".

Steve Gatesy



Stephen M. Gatesy
Dept. of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Box G-B209
Brown University
Providence, RI 02912
401-863-3770
401-863-7544 (fax)