Re: Young Allosaur feathers?

["T. Michael Keesey" <mightyodinn@yahoo.com>]

--- Michael Lovejoy <michael@palaeoproductions.fsnet.co.uk> wrote:
> One of the models I'm doing at the moment is a 1/35th Allosaur family group.
> I'm toying with the idea of "feathering" the smallest juveniles, a la Paul's
> illustration in PDW. The only thing that bothers me is that they aren't
> coelurosaurs.
> 
> Anybody got an opinion?

Integument is unknown for all non-coelurosaurian tetanurans (including
allosaurid carnosaurs). All we really know is that Clade(_Sinosauropteryx_ +
_Caudipteryx_ + _Protarchaeopteryx_ + _Beipiaosaurus_ + _Paraves_) had feathery
integument. The ancestor would not have had "true" feathers, but probably
something more like _Sinosauropteryx_' coat. We also know that _Carnotaurus_, a
ceratosaur, was scaly. The best possibilities:

1) Feathery integument first evolved in some tetanuran ancestor of the
aforementioned unnamed clade.
2) Feathery integument evolved even earlier, and _Carnotaurus_ is secondarily
"feather"less.

In the first case, feathery allosaurids are possible but not certain. In the
second case, feathery allosaurids are likely (unless they are secondarily
scaly).

In conclusion, sure, go ahead. You have about a 50/50 chance of being right.

=====
=====> T. Michael Keesey <keesey@bigfoot.com>
=====> The Dinosauricon <http://dinosauricon.com>
=====> BloodySteak <http://bloodysteak.com>
=====> Instant Messenger <Ric Blayze>
=====

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