Re: Archaeopteryx flight

["David Marjanovic" <david.marjanovic@gmx.at>]

I just wrote:

> To return to the subject, I have PDW lying in front of me and remember
that
> the evidence for "protobeaks" is described somewhere in it, but I can't
find
> that... :-(

Page 365: "The numerous vessel and nerve openings on the nasals suggest that
their sharp rims supported a well-developed horn ridge. The downstepped
premaxilla may have supported a horn sheath contiguous with the nasal horn
ridges, and the dentary's numerous foramina indicate it sported a long horn
covering too [or lips?]. If true, then the nasal's and premaxilla's horn
coverings may have formed a continuous protobeak, and the soft lips would
have been displaced from the front of the mouth -- in fact, it is possible
that all protobirds [ ~ Maniraptoriformes without birds] had beaks of one
sort or another."
I haven't seen other mentionings or rebuttals of this, nor an adaptive
advantage of such a beak.