Re: _Procompsognathus_ [was: Re: Gliders to Fliers? (Was Re: Ruben Strikes Back)]

[Stanley Friesen <sarima@ix.netcom.com>]

At 02:55 PM 9/28/99 -0600, Jonathan R. Wagner wrote: 
>Stanley Friesen wrote: 
>>_Procompsognathus_ is probably the closest we have to the ancestral 
>>dinosaur ecologically - even if it is technically more derived than 
>>_Herrerasaurus_. 
> I presume that, by "more derived," you mean "sharing a more recent 
>common ancestor with modern birds than with animals such as _Eoraptor_, 
>_Herrerasaurus_, ornithiscians, and sauropodomorphs." Or do you mean that 
>_Procompsognathus_ possesses more apomorphies than _Herrerasaurus_, relative 
>to the condition seen in their most recent common ancestor?

The latter, at least this time. _Eoraptor_ and _Herrerasaurus_ possess few 
apomorphies in common with other theropods, and relatively few autapomorphies.
In most analyses I am aware of _P._ falls out further up the theropod tree.

> Whichever way you meant it, there is, to my knowledge, no consensus 
>on either of these points. Indeed, I am not aware of any consensus on the 
>ecology of this animal. Last I had heard, it was still up in the air as to 
>whether it was even an Avemetatarsalian. I know Chatterjee has recently 
>finished a study of this beast, but it has yet to be published.

Actually, all I was suggesting is the that *maybe*, being a small, early 
theropod, it might retain more of the scansorial mode of life than the 
better-known larger forms.

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May the peace of God be with you.         sarima@ix.netcom.com