RE: Best _Guanlong wucaii_ headline

["Thomas R. Holtz, Jr." <tholtz@geol.umd.edu>]

> From: owner-dinosaur@usc.edu [mailto:owner-dinosaur@usc.edu]On Behalf Of
> Jean-Michel Benoit
>
> Hello all
> don't know if it's been debated before, but the reconstruction shows a
> somewhat feathery creature, not to mention the _quite_ wing-like arms. I
> know that feathers are known for a long time now, and that it appeared in
> coelurosaurs, at least, quite early. Is there any evidence that *G. wucaii*
> fossils(s) show these features?

The dinofuzz was not preserved, but inferred from its phylogenetic position 
(between compsognathids and maniraptorans on the
outside, and _Dilong_ on the inside).

The forelimbs are fairly well preserved and are very long. I don't see that the 
actual bones, or the reconstruction for that matter,
are particularly "wing-like" beyond the normal coelurosaurian condition. 
(Granted, relative to a ceratosaur, coelurosaur arms are
pretty "wing-like"!)

                Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
        Senior Lecturer, Vertebrate Paleontology
Department of Geology           Director, Earth, Life & Time Program
University of Maryland          College Park Scholars
        Mailing Address:
                Building 237, Room 1117
                College Park, MD  20742

http://www.geol.umd.edu/~tholtz/
http://www.geol.umd.edu/~jmerck/eltsite
Phone:  301-405-4084    Email:  tholtz@geol.umd.edu
Fax (Geol):  301-314-9661       Fax (CPS-ELT): 301-405-0796
>