RE: Sickle-claws, theropod infanticide and Valerian

["Williams, Tim" <TiJaWi@agron.iastate.edu>]

David Marjanovic wrote:

> whether Wilusa is really Ilion or something else
> is still discussed and has been for about a century AFAIK.

You're certainly on the ball.  The identification is not 100% certain.

> * Wine is inos in Greek, as in *Gargantuavis philoinos*, isn't it?

Gk oinos = wine.  Oenology (or enology) is the study of wine.  I'm about to
do some studying myself, actually.

> The Mycenaean kings were called wanax. Compare *Saurophaganax*.

How does "(w)anax" compare to "basileus"?

But back to the sickle-claw... It's presence in dromaeosaurids, troodontids
and _Rahonavis_ suggests to me that it is primitive for the clade embracing
all three taxa.  That means it was secondarily lost in _Archaeopteryx_ and
Pygostylia.  (Unless _Archaeopteryx_ and Pygostylia is basal to a
dromaeosaurids-troodontid-_Rahonavis clade - an idea that I suspect has some
adherents).  I've wondered if the enlarged sickle-claw was an impediment to
perching.



Tim 



------------------------------------------------------------ 

Timothy J. Williams 

USDA-ARS Researcher 
Agronomy Hall 
Iowa State University 
Ames IA 50014 

Phone: 515 294 9233 
Fax:   515 294 3163