[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index][Subject Index][Author Index]

Re: VIVAPARITY



>What's the latest on Protoavis texensis? Chatterjee described the skull in '91
>(apparently), can someone give me a ref. for that? There were also rumours that
>he'd publish a complete description early this year. Anyone heard anything
>about
>that? And could those of you who know George Olshevsky (Dr. Holtz?) please ask
>him what he thinks of Protoavis, just out of curiosity.

Darren et al -

        The reference to which you're referring is:

Chatterjee, S.  (1991).  "Cranial Anatomy and relationships of a new
Triassic bird from Texas," _Philosophical
        Transactions of the Royal Society of London Series B_  332(1265):
277-342.

        Yes, the second "half" of the paper was, is, and will be out later
this year -- the Royal Society's been sitting on it; it's in that nebulous
"it'll be out in a couple months" stage for almost a year now.  I wonder if
they're having second thoughts, or if they're really that backed up...  ;-)

        George stated in his _Mesozoic Meanderings #2_ that he thought
_Protoavis_ was best suited as a theropod, although one with a very
bird-like skull.  This, of course, fits in nicely with his theory that
birds didn't descend from theropods -- theropods descended from birds,
which, in turn, descended from some mildly bird-like "thecodonts" like
_Cosesaurus_, _Longisquama_, and _Megalancosaurus_.  His assertion, for
anyone who hasn't read his article in _Omni_, is that the original
dinosaurs spring off of the lineage of thecodonts that were evolving into
birds.  This, in his eyes, is why many theropods have bird-like traits --
because they inherited them from bird-like ancestors.  He never quite
bothered with the question of why all the theropods with bird-like traits
are _not_ the Triassic ones, like _Coelophysis_!  8-)


Jerry D. Harris
Denver Museum of Natural History
2001 Colorado Blvd.
Denver, CO  80205
(303) 370-6403
Internet:  jdharris@teal.csn.net
CompuServe:  73132,3372

--)::)>   '''''''''''''/O\'''''''''''`  Jpq--   =o}\   w---^/^\^o

Overheard in the Denver Museum's
old Fossil Mammal Hall, from a mother
to her daugher:

"See there?  That's the camel-dinosaur, and
the horse-dinosaur, and the elephant-dinosaur..."

--)::)>   '''''''''''''/O\'''''''''''`  Jpq--   =o}\   w---^/^\^o