Re: The Morrison Formation: older than you think

[Tim Williams <twilliams_alpha@hotmail.com>]

Jamie Stearns wrote:

> 6 million years older than Archie... That would mean we now have some good 
> skeletal evidence of pre-Archaeopteryx "deinonychosaurs," something the 
> Feducciaries are likely going to have a tough time explaining away (though 
> they may well try to challenge the revised dates). Of course, it would be 
> better if we had a Microraptor-like creature with feather impressions, but 
> this is something, at least.

I wish that's all it took to convince the "Feducciaries" that birds are 
theropod dinosaurs: a pre-_Archaeopteryx_ feathered _Microraptor_-like 
dinosaur.

What seems to be happening is that a number of people who were once (and 
continue to be) steadfastly against the idea that birds are theropods are 
nevertheless prepared to accept that birds are closely related to feathered 
maniraptorans like _Microraptor_.  These folks have settled (for the moment) 
on the idea that maniraptorans (deinonychosaurs, oviraptorids, birds) have a 
separate origin to other theropods from basal archosaur ("thecodont") stock. 
 This rather half-baked compromise is an attempt to reconcile the presence 
of incontrovertibly avian feathers in certain maniraptorans with their own 
deeply-held convictions that birds cannot be theropods.  It's a farrago of 
nonsense, of course; but it's the reason why a pre-_Archaeopteryx_ feathered 
maniraptoran would probably not convince the Birds-Are-Not-Dinosaurs crowd 
that birds are theropods.  They already refuse to accept that the 
feather-like body covering in non-maniraptorans (like _Sinosauropteryx) 
represent homologs of feathers.


Cheers

Tim