Re: Wilkinson's new pterosaur paper

[jrc <jrccea@bellsouth.net>]

There is also evidence that the pteroid fits on another sesimoid that itself 
fits on the inboard face of the preaxial carpal.  In other words, there are 
two sesimoids associated with the preaxial carpal, and the pteroid does not 
fit either in the cup, nor on the sesimoid that does.  Chris describes this 
rather better than anyone else, and the evidence seems to bear him out.

That said, I think that Matt's work is worthy of publication and remains so 
as long as there is a lack of consensus.  Matt writes clearly and his 
hypotheses are generally testable.  My own take on the pterosaur wing is 
quite different, but Matt's work is always worth a serious evaluation, and I 
respect him.

It is possible for pterosaurs to fly with a wing/hindlimb connection, and I 
expect some did.  It is also possible (and more efficient, given the 
ecological niches they seemed to tend to occupy) for them to fly with the 
wing independent of the hindlimb, and I expect some did that as well (in my 
personal opinion, most were probably independent, but I don't consider that 
to be proven).
JimC

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "david peters" <davidrpeters@earthlink.net>
To: <allenph@unimelb.edu.au>; <dinosaur@usc.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, July 10, 2007 11:44 AM
Subject: re: Wilkinson's new pterosaur paper



> 1) produce evidence that the pteroid fits in the cup of the preaxial 
> carpal when the current evidence shows this to be the nesting site of a 
> sesamoid,