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That's a question I asked last year when I was new
to the list. See http://www.cmnh.org/fun/dinosaur-archive/2000Jan/msg00269.html .
I'm not sure about the validity of the experiment, but it sure did get some
interesting results. I removed 18 flight-related characters from my 318
character analysis of coelurosaurs and got a radically new phylogeny.
Segnosaur-oviraptorosaurs and Bagaraatan are arctometatarsalians.
Troodontids, Unenlagia, alvarezsaurids, Avimimus and Yandangornis are supported
as being secondarily flightless (but not dromaeosaurs, which are in my complete
analysis, hmmm). Very odd indeed.... Both the "flighty characters
removed" results and my normal results are shown below. If anyone has
suggestions for characters not involving the pectoral girdle that I could
remove, feel free to write.
no flight-related characters-
(Tyrann (Nqweba (Nedcolb (Coelurus ((Ornithom (Bagarat (Segno
(Protarc + Ovirap)))) (Compsog (Scipion (Ornithol (Achillo (Dromaeo (Bambi
(Sinornith (Microrap ((Rahona + Archaeop) (Troodo (Unenlag (Alvarez (Avimim
(Yandang + Pygostylia)))))))))))))))))))
Normal-
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+-----Tyrannosauroidea (Siamotyrannus, Dryptosaurus, Tyrannosauridae) | /Ornitholestes +--Nedcolbertia +--Compsognathidae +--Scipionyx, Coelurus +-----Ornithomimosauria +--Nqwebasaurus | | +----Protarchaeopteryx | | +-+-----Segnosauria | | | +---+---Caudipteryx | | | | | +---Nomingia | | | +---Microvenator | | | +---Caenagnathidae | | | +---Oviraptoridae | +-----Bagaraatan | | | +---+--+--Alvarezsauridae | | | | | +-+--Patagonykus | | | | | +--Mononykinae | | | +----Avimimus | +--------Troodontidae | | +-------Unenlagia | | /---------Sinornithosaurus +-+--+---+---+---Dromaeosauridae (Velociraptor, Deinonychus, Saurornitholestes, | | | | | Adasaurus, Achillobator, Dromaeosaurus) | | | | | | | | | +---Bambiraptor | | | +------Microraptor | | +------Rahonavis | +-------Archaeopteryx | | +-----Yandangornis | +-----Confuciusornithidae | +-----Protopteryx | +-----Jibeinia | +-----Enantiornithines | +-----Ornithurae Mickey Mortimer |