RE: shedding light on plume shedding issue

[David Peters <davidrpeters@earthlink.net>]

Wouldn't the obvious reason for so many discovered shed parafeathers be
that they have a calamus equivalent (so would be expected to shed
periodically like feathers
and fur), but are rather large and distinctive-looking? And since they
are a dual planar surface instead of filamentous, they could very well
preserve more easily than
even remiges do.

Mickey Mortimer


Reason whys and obvious reasons are kinda beyond my ken. But I
appreciate what you are saying.

I do note that the shed iguana spine epidermis does look like a calamus
and it is hollow. Pieces of Longisquama identified by Jones, et al. as
hollow and subdivided are just pedal digits in the wrong place. All ten
of them. See pterosaurinfo.com > taxa > Longisquama.

dp