Lots of Stuff

[Stang1996@aol.com]

Pterosaur classification:

    I've got a question.  Is the term 'Rhamphorhynchoidea' thought to be
paraphyletic now-a-days?  Or is it thought to be a monophyletic assemblage
that is the sister taxon to the Pterodactyloidea?  Has anyone done any
cladistic analyses of pterosaurs recently (ever)?

_Pterodaustro_'s teeth:

<<Chiappe and Chinsamy
Pterodaustro's True Teeth
Nature 379 (18th Jan, 1996), p211-12

Uses microscopic sectioning to demonstrate that the filter feeding apparatus
is made of true teeth, and not a baleen equivalent.>>

    Do they give any suggestions as to how _Pt._ kept its teeth from
constantly breaking?  I would assume that they would be horribly brittle and
weak; but then again, we all know what assuming makes of you and me...
 Seriously, that would seem to be really really dangerous if one of your
teeth broke off and then choked you to death.

_Ornithodesmus_:

    The type specimen of _Ornithodesmus_ has been recognized as a troodontid.
 Has the genus for the pterosaur that was previously called _Ornithodesmus_
been named?  Anyone got any suggestions?  How about _Anatocephalus_ or
_Odontanatus_ or something?

"The Dinosauria II:"

    Has anyone even thought about this yet?  Seriously, this book is six
years old and seriously out-of-date already on some things like theropod
relationships.  Really if it were started now, the book could probably be
printed by 2000 or so and include much more up-to-date information and
theories (until _it_ gets out-dated in 2006) and contributions from more and
younger authors (oh like Tom Holtz).  I think that this should be something
done every decade or so; oh how the book will have changed after the
hundredth aniversery printing of "The Dinosauria X;" they might even pull out
printing presses and use paper!  Hey, even I might get to write something in
III or IV.

Nerve Openings:

    I've got a question.  Are the nerve openings to the brain - I'm not sure
wich ones, the ones that Nick was talking about - of dinosaurs like.. oh
Prosauropods and Early Predentates in any way similar to those of
Archaeopterygiformes?  Has anyone checked this for segnosaurs (I know Tom was
wondering when I'd put segnosaurs into this post), because if they are more
similar to the Arctometatarsalia + Metornithes group (let's call that Aves
from now on), or the Archaeopterygiformes + Aves group (let's call that
Manuraptoriformes from now on), than they are to Predentates or to
Prosauropods + Predentates (still looking for a good name), then I would
admit that segnosaurs are tremendously abberant theropods, but theropods
none-the-less.  That's something that Tom would never expect to hear coming
out of my mouth.

Ha!  There's my five topics for the day all in one message!

Peter Buchholz
Stang1996@aol.com

Go Mustang Basketball!
Number 1 in Washington State!