Re: Best _Guanlong wucaii_ headline

[David Marjanovic <david.marjanovic@gmx.at>]

> Another member recently  noted the presence of a semilunate carpal.
> After reading "Dinosaurs of the Air",  that feature makes it  highly
> likely arm feathers were present, necessitating the need for a way to
> fold the feathers out of harm's way when not in use

It might be the other way around. A semilunate carpal may be a prerequisite 
for the evolution of wing feathers because a wing that could not be folded 
out of harm's way would have little or no adaptive advantage (especially in 
sexual selection). I have not done any experiments or math on this; I'm just 
mentioning the existence of an alternative just-so story.