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Re: A load of questions



I just want to second some of the points Stan Friesen made about  
Protoavis, just in case someone gets the false impression he was  
spouting off. All of the following comments are based on what I've  
seen at meetings and in the literature over the past couple of years;  
correct me if I've missed something.

1) Apart from Larry Martin, no-one working on the problem of avian  
origins appears to support Chatterjee's claims.

2) Chatterjee's phylogenetic arguments are weak; unlike virtually  
everybody else in this debate, he relies on "looks like a bird to  
me"-type arguments instead of making explicit, quantitative  
phylogenetic analyses.

3) Precious little has been published about Protoavis in the last  
couple of years, and I haven't seen a full-scale rebuttal. Perhaps  
none of the heavyweights in this area even cares to invest research  
time in rebutting the theory.

4) Of course Chatterjee could still turn out to be right. However,  
there is no particular reason to think he will, apart from taking his  
word for it.

5) Friesen is on the mark (like usual) with regard to herrerasaurids.