Re: Ah ha! That's where therizinosaurs came from

[GSP1954@aol.com]

In a message dated 8/15/11 8:21:29 AM, GSP1954@aol.com writes:

<< Ratites have a fullt developed suite of derived avian characters, 
including 
a skull with a severely reduced maxilla, paleognathus palate, advanced 
braincase, strut like jugal and so on. Unless a fantastic level of 
parallalism 
occurred it is abjectly impossible for them to not have descended from 
fliers 
closely related to tinamous. 

GSPaul


In a message dated 8/14/11 10:01:56 PM, jaseb@amnh.org writes:

<< What about ratites? How do we know they had flying ancestors?


My point is that ratites do not retain any single anatomical feature that

is found only in flying birds. I realized last week that, if we look at

the anatomy only, ratites could retain the anatomy of an avialan lineage

that diverged right before flight was attained. I was surprised when I

realized that. >>
 >>

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