oviraptorids-therizinosaurs

["Ken Kinman" <kinman@hotmail.com>]

Mickey,
    I was just rereading the characters which purportedly unite oviraptors
and therizinosaurs in a clade, and most are also found in various birds,
Achillobator, etc.
     Don't know where Norell et al. will place therizinosaurs, but I still
think they split off before an oviraptorid-caudipterid clade.  And this is
reinforced by the apparent primitive nature of therizinosaur eggshells
(dinosaur sphaerulitic).
      Birds, dromaeosaurs, and oviraptors (and probably caudipterids as
well) share ornithoid eggshells (and mononykines probably did as well).
Therizinosaurs apparently did not and therefore I also remain unconvinced
that they form a clade with oviraptors.
      And the polymorphic nature of alvarezsaurids is again raising the
possibility in my mind that Alvarezsaurus is not in an exclusive clade with
Mononykines.  I think the latter are more closely related to birds than
Alvarezsaurus is.
                   -----Ken
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Mickey Mortimer wrote:
     Norell et al. state that a relationship with therizinosauroids was not
found by Norell et al. in press, but never mention anything about
Caudipteryx and Microvenator not being oviraptorosaurs.  I would have a hard
time believing they are anything but oviraptorosaurs actually.....
>
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