I've just got the Nature paper.
Microraptor has distally placed and long halluces (both more so than in
Archaeopteryx), but they are definitely not reversed. Of course, I
can't judge whether it may have been revers*ible*, and preservation is another
issue...
BTW, what arguments are there to exclude
alvarezsaurids from birds? The prokinetic skull of Shuvuuia seems
clearly avian to me.
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