Re: Lepidocheirosaurus, new Jurassic ornithomimosaur from Siberia in Russia

[Tim Williams <tijawi@gmail.com>]

Mickey Mortimer <mickey_mortimer111@msn.com> wrote:

> Well, the authors previously claimed there were two ornithischians at the 
> site.  The supposed theropod material in Alifanov (2014) is
> clearly Kulindadromeus.  Here's my bet Lepidocheirosaurus is just 
> Kulindadromeus too.  These are the same people who claim
> alvarezsaurids are not theropods, so...


Yes, they hold to the bizarre notion that the "presence of unique
osteological characters" in alvarezsaurs means they cannot be
theropods.  Alifanov & Barsbold (2009) brought up this guff in their
description of the alvarezsaur _Ceratonykus_.  Apparently if a taxon
has certain characters that are not found in other theropods, then the
taxon is unlikely to be a theropod.  [Czerkas & Yuan (2002) cited much
the same rationale when they argued that _Scansoriopteryx_ was not a
theropod.]  Odd.