Re: Archaeopteryx flight

[jrc <jrccea@bellsouth.net>]

I would expect extended digits to perform about as well as an alula, but at 
a somewhat greater weight penalty.

As an aside, how often are alulas shed, and are they shed at any particular 
point in the moult?

JimC

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jon Barber" <augray@sympatico.ca>
To: "Dinosaur Mailing List" <dinosaur@usc.edu>
Sent: Sunday, October 23, 2005 8:43 PM
Subject: Re: Archaeopteryx flight


> At 05:49 PM 10/20/2005 -0400, Patrick Norton wrote:
> > Jon Barber wrote (in part):
> >
> > > D) It lacked an alula, which assists in low-speed flight and 
> > > maneuverability control.<
> >
> > It's been my hypothesis for a long time that the aerodynamic function of 
> > the alula could have been fulfilled by the exposed finger claws of early 
> > birds such>
> While the first digit may have functioned similarly to an alula, I suspect 
> that it did a relatively poor job. The recent paper that describes 
> Eoenantiornis points to the parallel evolutionary refinement of the alula 
> in both the Enantiornithes and the Euornithes.