Re: Details on Eoenantiornis

["Jaime A. Headden" <qilongia@yahoo.com>]

David Marjanovic wrote:

<  reversed hallux (also in Microraptor).

<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...>

  Am curious is all, as to what suggests the hallux was either
unreversed and whether preservation has a certain role in turning the
element from a neutral position into something that would be considered
reversed?

<BTW, what arguments are there to exclude alvarezsaurids from birds?
The prokinetic skull of Shuvuuia seems clearly avian to me.>

  Is this statement based on the suggestion of prokinesis? There is no
true mesethmoid. Other features _are_ related to kinesis, such as the
disconnection of the "cheek" from the "temple" bones, and what appears
to be an actual bending zone no where similar to a birds (long bone
bends [premaxilla, to be exact, in all avian kinesis], not a joint
between elements, and in *Shuvuuia*). Pectoral and pelvic elements
suggest homology, but then there's *Patagonykus'* wierd
sub-opisthopubic or mesopubic pelvis and whatever *Alvarezsaurus* was
doing.... Ack... what I wouldn't give for _one_ complete Patagonian
sub-avian theropod....

=====
Jaime A. Headden

  Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhr-gen-ti-na
  Where the Wind Comes Sweeping Down the Pampas!!!!

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