RE: Greg Paul is right (again); or "Archie's not a birdy"

["Thomas R. Holtz, Jr." <tholtz@umd.edu>]

> From: owner-DINOSAUR@usc.edu [mailto:owner-DINOSAUR@usc.edu] 
> On Behalf Of David Marjanovic
>
> >  As "Avialae" was originally defined on the basis of apomorphies
> 
> Oh no, it wasn't. It was defined in some branch-based way 
> that I have forgotten, maybe as everything closer to modern 
> birds than (to) *Deinonychus*. 

"...and the name Avialae is applied to Ornithurae plus all extinct 
maniraptorans that are closer to Ornithurae than they are to
Deinonychosauria." Gauthier 1986, p. 36, col. 2, para. 3. Archaeopteryx is 
listed in the included taxa, and he makes clear that
Archie was the primary source for the diagnosis of the clade, but the 
definition was a branch-based taxon name (using modern
terminology).

Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
Email: tholtz@umd.edu   Phone: 301-405-4084
Office: Centreville 1216                        
Senior Lecturer, Vertebrate Paleontology
Dept. of Geology, University of Maryland
http://www.geol.umd.edu/~tholtz/
Fax: 301-314-9661               

Faculty Director, Science & Global Change Program, College Park Scholars
http://www.geol.umd.edu/sgc
Fax: 301-314-9843

Mailing Address:        Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
                        Department of Geology
                        Building 237, Room 1117
                        University of Maryland
                        College Park, MD 20742 USA