Re: Flightly PaleoWorld

[Dinogeorge@aol.com]

In a message dated 95-11-21 14:47:47 EST, Thomas_R_HOLTZ@umail.umd.edu (th81)
writes:

> A globally distributed
>Longisquama is certainly a strong possibility, but a highly diverse
>assemblage of such critters will need more fossils for support.
>

_Longisquama_ was probably confined to the trees of central Russia. But
longisquamatids may have had a much wider Asian distribution, and
basitheropods even wider than that.

It's a situation similar to that with _Archaeopteryx_. One taxon from one
locality: proto-birds were restricted. Then along came _Confuciusornis_. Two
taxa from two localities: proto-birds were everywhere, but of course! How
stupid not to have realized it earlier!

(The fun part is that the dating for _Confuciusornis_ may be way off--it may
well be Early Cretaceous and not Late Jurassic after all.)