RE: Feathers for T-rex?

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

> >I have read in some texts that Compsognathus was a direct ancestor of 
> >the Tyrannosauridae. 
 
Some people hinted at this idea long ago, e. g. because of the relatively 
big head, short arms and 2-fingered hands of both. I stopped believing in 
this when I first read of Arctometatarsalia... :-) and then the 3-fingered 
hands of *Sinosauropteryx* showed that *Compsognathus* likely had the same 
condition (no complete articulated hands of *C.* are known). Not to 
mention the arms of *Eotyrannus* which are not that short. 
 
> Putative tyrannosaurid material 
> (e.g., _Stokesosaurus_) is roughly contemporary with _Compsognathus_, 
 
Slightly older (*S.* occurs in Guimarota, which is Kimmeridgian, older 
than the Tithonian *C.*... but then *C.*-like teeth occur in Guimarota). 

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