Re: theropod hands

[Dinogeorge@aol.com]

In a message dated 96-02-03 14:06:39 EST, pharrinj@PLU.edu (Nicholas J.
Pharris) writes:

>Much has been made of the fact that the proximal phalanges of the third 
>finger are hypershortened in maniraptorans.  Less well-known is the fact 
>that the same is true of the proximal phalanx of digit two.
>
>

It's not so much that the proximal phalanges were shortened as that the
distal phalanges (including unguals) became elongate. In ceratosaurians and
carnosaurians, the phalanges were all relatively short and much more alike in
length (although even then the distal ones were longer than the proximal
ones).