Re: Screaming dromaeosaur biplane killers of the air

["Jaime A. Headden" <qilongia@yahoo.com>]

Mickey Mortimer (Mickey_Mortimer111@msn.com) wrote:

<And as Ornithothoraces is a node-based clade defined using Iberomesornis
and neornithines, "basal ornithothoracines" with laterally grooved
furculae (eg. Protopteryx and Longipteryx) are not ornithothoracines at
all.>

  Never said they were. Don't think I even brought those taxa up. As for
*Boluochia*, thanks for the clarification, but I was under the impression
that a furcula was present. Not that I trust his figures, but Hou (1997)
shows a bowed element near the distal pubis that may be one, but I have
not seen photos of this specimen either. Not yet, anyway. My attempt at
inclusion of *Boluochia* was to indicate the radiation of ornithurines,
which show a remarkable generalization of the furcular form with very
little variation (*Gastornis* is an example of variation).

  Cheers,

=====
Jaime A. Headden

  Little steps are often the hardest to take.  We are too used to making leaps 
in the face of adversity, that a simple skip is so hard to do.  We should all 
learn to walk soft, walk small, see the world around us rather than zoom by it.

"Innocent, unbiased observation is a myth." --- P.B. Medawar (1969)

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