Re: The ground-nowhere hypothesis on the origin of bird flight

[evelyn sobielski <koreke77@yahoo.de>]

I find the possible explanation for the _Deinonychus_ pinions very charming.. 
Best I have seen to date.

About Archie, I am highly skeptical though. Could it flap its wings (both 
considering angle of simultaneous elevation and power output) to lift itself in 
such a situation? Probably not. Did it feed on prey that was large enough to 
require stabilization? Almost certainly not.

BTW regarding Archie - is a taxonomic list of Guimarota anthracogenic plants 
available somewhere? Have they ever been identified? Low-lying Kimmeridgian 
swamp forest -  but of what plants? And how dense? And is it likely that 
nothing very closely related to _A. lithographica_ did *not* live in it, but 
that its carcasses were swept in from outside?


Is there any study where I can look up this:

* Which synapomorphies of _Gansus_ and _Ichthyornis_ are plesiomorphic in 
Archie and _Deinonychus_?
* And how consistently are these plesiomorphic, synapomorphic, autapomorphic 
among the Early Cretaceous Enantiornithes?


Regards,

Eike