Re: Scaly tyrannosaurs; fact or fiction?

["T. Mike Keesey" <tmk@dinosauricon.com>]

On Mon, 1 Jan 2001, Steve  Brusatte wrote:

> If there were, indeed, Tyrannosaur skin impressions found, then I
> would be curious to see if they show any evidence of feathers.  Most
> cladograms show Tyrannosaurus well within the range of feathers

Not necessarily. Some cladograms do place them outside of
Clade (_Sinosauropteryx_ + _Passeres_) (the known scope for feathery
integument), and I think all place them outside of
Clade (_Protarchaeopteryx_ + _Caudipteryx_ + _Beipiaosaurus_ + _Passeres_)
(the known scope for feathers, probably). Phylogenetic bracketing
is ambiguous on the case of tyrannosauroid integument, unless you follow a
phylogeny where Tyrannosauroidea share more recent ancestry with Aves than
_Sinosauropteryx_ does.

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