Re: Dinosaur Genera List update #196

["Jaime A. Headden" <qilongia@yahoo.com>]

George Olshevsky (dinogeorge@aol.com) wrote:

<Yeah, but I included them in the Dinosaur Genera List as potential
dino-birds, since I think flight originated well within non-avian
Dinosauria.>

  But it's not about the origin of flight. *Jeholornis* and its likely
junior synonym *Shenzhouraptor* are, despite their bony tails, more
"avian" in their anatomy than is *Archaeopteryx*, including the sternal,
coracoidal, and pelvic elements. The wrist and manus design are also
similarly far advanced than *Archaeopteryx*, a design more in kin with
*Confuciusornis*, which does not appear in the catalogue if I remember
correctly. *Archaeovolans*, similarly, has been synonymized with
*Yanornis* (well, its not named but the holotype with the appelation
"Archaeoraptor" was, which Czerckas and Xu named *Archaeovolans* in an
earlier publication which was not seen by the synonymizing authors) which
is most likely a basal ornithurine.

  Cheers,

=====
Jaime A. Headden

  Little steps are often the hardest to take.  We are too used to making leaps 
in the face of adversity, that a simple skip is so hard to do.  We should all 
learn to walk soft, walk small, see the world around us rather than zoom by it.

"Innocent, unbiased observation is a myth." --- P.B. Medawar (1969)

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