RE: Details on SVP 2002 Part 1 (ABSRD)

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

Mickey Mortimer wrote:

>Seems he officially believes that maniraptorans are birds, but that 
> other coelurosaurs are unrelated.  

It'll be interesting (though not especially informative from a scientific
perspective), to see where Martin, Czerkas and friends draw the line.  Who
belongs in this "Aves+Maniraptora" group and who doesn't?  Deinonychosaurs
are in, oviraptorosaurs and the rest are out?  Is that the deal?  

> He terms this the "Paulian hypothesis", though it's only similar
> in thinking of maniraptorans as 2F and preferring the arboreal origin.

"Paulian hypothesis", huh?  As far as I know, Paul of Samosata, bishop of
Antioch, didn't give much thought to the evolution of Mesozoic birds -
paleontology was at a very rudimentary stage in the 3rd century A.D.  He did
have some interesting ideas on the divinity of Christ, however.



Tim