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Hi all,
Like fellow member HP Dinorampage, I've got some
questions to and I hope if someone can help me out with the
following:
1) Ginnareemimus is reported to have an almost
"arctometatarsalian" pes, like in Sinovenator, but how does
this relate in terms of
their relationships, are they closely related or does this mean the
arctometatarsalian
pes can be achieved by
convergence leaving it as practicly meaningless in phyletics?
2) Another Ornithomimid question: after looking at
some figures of the redescription of Archaeornithomimus in
a JVP-issue (can't
remember the volume anymore) and reconstructing it's pelvic girdle + hindlimbs,
something came up along
the way which was also quite suspect in the figures: the pubis, at least it's
distal
end is somewhat recurved,
giving the impression of an opisthopubic state of the pelvis. Is this another
clue
of the Ornithomimids being
related to an Archaeopteryx or an animal close to this?
3) Again on Archaeornithomimus and the supposed
synonymy to Garudamimus, what are the shared
characteristics between
the two apart from shape of the pubis and are there any differences between
them? The femur for
instance is practicly straight in A. while it is curved in G. and the crest on
the tibia
(damn' names...) on it's
proximal end is less pronounced in A. compared to G., but there are more
right?
4) Is Confuciusornis dui still considered a valid species
of Confuciusornis?
5) If so, what is it supposed lifestyle with the upward
curving horny sheat at the tip of the beak? It is somewhat
similair in structure to the beak
in Rhamphorhynchus for example, which probably pierced it's prey (most of
the time fish) while skimming the
waters. Is this practice reasonable and is it appliable to C. dui? And what
are the supposed life-style for the
other Confuciusornithes Confuciusornis, Longchengornis and
Changchengornis?
6) Changchengornis is smaller than Confuciusornis by
almost a third IIRC and in extant mammals, the predator
is smaller than it's prey (some
examples can be thought of such as the great white shark), does this
indirectly mean that
Changchengornis was more predatorial based the other Confuciornithes?
The hooked
beak can be seen as another clue
for it's predatorial lifestyle, but apart from that.
7) Is a vulcanic eruption the cause of the major faunal
death in the Lianoning basin or are there other theories
as well?
8) Does someone please send me scans of the skeletal
material in the 2002 JVP publication of
Eocathyornis?
9) In DA HP Greg Paul states that Eoenanthiornis could be
a juvenile or subadult genus, is this correct?
Thanks in advance for any help!
Cheers,
Rutger Jansma
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