Re: Placement of Segnosauria

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

David Marjanovic wrote:

<About whether mt I contacted the tarsus or not. I'll look at the
figure once more.>

  My point here, and others', is that the proximal ends of the mtI in
*Beipiaosaurus* differ from therizinosaurids in being tapered towards
the tarsus (directionally) whereas in therizinosaurids it is broadened
craniocaudally and may most likely have contacted the tarsus, as a
weight-bearing element as Tracy describes. It is much more raptorial in
*Beipiaosaurus* and extension of the digit demonstrates that the toe
wouldn't have been able to bear weight or even reach the ground except
for the claw tip -- most likely anyway, and I haven't yet explored the
other possibilities like I should.

<OK, OK... I'll read the paper once more and comment later. The
ascending process on the astragalus and the tibia with fibular crest
sound quite convincing, I have to admit.>

  I would have thought that the *Segnosaurus* tibia with a fibular
crest would have been convincing, but it hasn't been though it's not
been brought up until Xu et al., 1999 in spite of Perle, 1980 being
explicit about the feature. Anyway....

=====
Jaime "James" A. Headden

  Dinosaurs are horrible, terrible creatures! Even the
  fluffy ones, the snuggle-up-at-night-with ones. You think
  they're fun and sweet, but watch out for that stray tail
  spike! Down, gaston, down, boy! No, not on top of Momma!

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