Re: Back to the Campanian

[Michael Habib <mhabib5@jhmi.edu>]

> Digging though my list of possible Neornithes from
> that era, I came across the paper on _Piksi
> barbarulna_. The namesake elbow has me puzzled - the
> authors don't discuss this, but would "the large
> dorsal epicondyle of the humerus and the large dorsal
> cotyla of the ulna" not put mechanical limitations on
> wing extension and pronation/supination?

It might create some limitations on those motions, but I wouldn't think 
it would limit them much.  Large epicondyles are not particularly 
uncommon in modern birds (though they usually aren't quite as bulbous 
as in the specimen in question).  Wing extension could be affected a 
bit, but in practice this was likely moot because the elbow is somewhat 
flexed in flight position anyway.

Cheers,

--Mike H.