re: 'Parapsicephalus' and the Eurovision Song Contest

[David Peters <davidrpeters@earthlink.net>]

David Unwin wrote:

Pterodactyloidea is one of the most strongly supported nodes within
Pterosauria
(not that anyone is likely to be surprised to hear this) and supported
by at
least six clear cut characters. Doubtless one could find many more
synapomorphies of Pterodactyloidea if one had the time to look for them.

Consequently if one wishes to argue that Pterodactyloidea is in fact
polyphyletic...

...it would be necessary to find at least seven clear cut synapomorphies
that
supported a relationship between, for example, 'scaphognaths' and the
putative
clade (Dsungaripteridae + Nyctosauridae + Pteranodon + Tapejaridae), but
that
were not present in any other pterodactyloids or other basal clades of
pterosaurs. A quick flick through Wellnhofer's encyclopedia is quite
sufficient
to show that that such a character distribution is even less likely than
the
total number of points scored by the United Kingdom in the recent
Eurovision
Song Contest.


>>>>>>

Dear David,

I was as surprised as anyone to see that PAUP revealed a diphyletic
'Pterodactyloidea' ?much as I was surprised to see that pterosaurs were
prolacertiformes and that no pteros had broad chord wings.

It's true that the two higher clades share much in common, but in the
end, I have to go with PAUP.

So, let's discuss this. Name your six characters. I'd be more than happy
to discuss the latest PAUP surprises. It's important to reveal
weaknesses so we can all end up with a stronger hypothesis.

David Peters