RE: Epidexipteryx

[Tim Williams <twilliams_alpha@hotmail.com>]

Eike  wrote:


> Has there ever been anything on pedomorphosis playing a role in birds 
> becoming fully arboreal?


A while back, Tony Thulborn wrote something similar (though not explicitly 
about arboreality).  From what I remember, it was something along the lines of 
the avian bodyplan arising via pedomorphosis.


Jeff Hecht wrote:


>  All of which leaves us with a diverse range of little feathered dinosaurs 
> closely related to birds running around the late Jurassic and early 
> Cretaceous. 


Definitely.  What's more, there's an impressive array of small (and 
not-so-small) insectivorous, herbivorous, and omnivorous maniraptorans close to 
the origin of birds: alvarezsaurs, therizinosaurs, oviraptorosaurs (including 
_Incisivosaurus_ & _Protarchaeopteryx_), scansoriopterygids, possibly 
troodontids...  Among non-avian maniraptorans, the hypercarnivorous 
dromaeosaurids are starting to look like the exception, not the rule.




Cheers

Tim
_________________________________________________________________
Want to read Hotmail messages in Outlook? The Wordsmiths show you how.
http://windowslive.com/connect/post/wedowindowslive.spaces.live.com-Blog-cns!20EE04FBC541789!167.entry?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_hotmail_092008