Re: dinos and birds

[Dora Smith <villandra@austin.rr.com>]

Well, you sure know more than I found out!  :)

Was Schleromochlus warm and fuzzy too?

Yours,
Dora Smith
Austin, Texas
villandra@austin.rr.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mickey Mortimer" <Mickey_Mortimer111@msn.com>
To: <dinosaur@usc.edu>
Sent: Sunday, July 04, 2004 8:07 PM
Subject: Re: dinos and birds


> Dora Smith wrote-
>
> > Pterosaurs furry and warm-blooded?  What did I miss?
>
> Yes, pterosaurs have a kind of filamentous integument similar to mammalian
> fur or dinosaurian stage 1 feathers, but probably not homologous with
> either.  This is shown by many specimens from the Yixian Formation (eg.
> Beipiaopterus, Jeholopterus, Pterorhynchus), as well as Sordes and less
> obvious Solnhofen specimens.  The presence of such a covering and the
> ability to fly argue quite convincingly for endothermy.
> See http://www.dinosaur.pref.fukui.jp/archive/memoir/memoir001-019.pdf
>
> > Do I correctly understand that pterosaurs weren't even dinosaurs?
>
> Correct.  They may not even be archosaurs.  Their origins are highly
> debated, the main possibilities being-
> 1. Prolacertiform basal archosauromorphs related to Longisquama and
> Cosesaurus.
> 2. Avemetatarsalian archosaurs related to Scleromochlus and
dinosauromorphs
> (dinosaurs, Marasuchus, Lagerpeton, etc.).
>
> Mickey Mortimer
> Undergraduate, Earth and Space Sciences
> University of Washington
> The Theropod Database - http://students.washington.edu/eoraptor/Home.html