Coelurid myths and metacarpals

[Brad McFeeters <archosauromorph2@hotmail.com>]

In the wildly outdated _A Field Guide to Dinosaurs_ by David Lambert (1983), 
the entry for *Coelurus* reads: "Coelurus ("hollow tail") seemingly had a 
head slightly smaller than a man's hand; mostly small teeth; and long, but 
rather weak, hands," and there is an illustration of a very heterodont 
*Coelurus* skull in front of a man's hand.  Carpenter et al. 2005 report 
that no *Coelurus* skull is known, so what is Lambert's illustration of?   
It could be a somewhat poorly-drawn *Ornitholestes* skull, but Lambert 
includes *Ornitholestes* as a different genus.

Carpenter et al. note in the redescription of *Coelurus*' hand that 
"metacarpal I and IV are missing", but what reason is there to believe that 
*Coelurus* even had a metacarpal IV to become missing?

The former ?*Ornitholestes* hand, now said to be indistinguishable from 
*Tanycolagreus*,   was previously accepted as having four metacarpals; for a 
recent example, Galis et al. (TRENDS in Ecology and Evolution, January 2003, 
vol. 18, p. 8) wrote: "In addition, there are indications that the 
maniraptoriform theropod *Ornitholestes* had a tiny remnant of a finger 
posterior to its three functional fingers (Fig.2c)."   The description and 
figures of the manus in the holotype of *Tanycolagreus* contain no fourth 
metacarpal.   Is it simply missing, or has the referred specimen been 
reinterpreted as having only three metacarpals?