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Re: Most popular/common dinosaur misconceptions



Hi Jason,

<<In both cases, I feel it is a false comparison. Calling a bird a dinosaur
is a completely different thing from calling a bat a mammal. It is more akin
to calling a mammal a therapsid, or a snake a lizard.>>

Sorry to be late.  I'm a mammal and a therapsid, but I'm not a snake or a
lizard.  This is the fault of my ancestors, so blame them.

<<Theoretically the term non-mammalian therapsid, or on-ophidian
lacertillian might also crop up now and again, but I've yet to see it
(admittedly the lacertillian one doesn't show up mostly due to the weirdness
of lacertillian phylogeny).>>

I see the term 'non-mammalian therapsid' sometimes.  It occurs in papers on
the evolutionary history of therapsids (including mammals).  For example:
Maisch MW, Matzke AT & Sun G (2004), A new tritylodontid from the Upper
Jurassic Shishugou Formation of the Junggar Basin, (Xinjiang, NW China),
Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 24(3), p.649-656.

"ABSTRACT-A new tritylodontid cynodont, /Bienotheroides ultimus/ sp. nov.,
is described from the Upper Jurassic Shishugou Formation of Jiangjunmiao in
the northeastern Junggar Basin of Xinjiang (NW China). The type consists of
a partial skeleton, including teeth, a partial skull, and a considerable
portion of the postcranium. It is identifiable as /Bienotheroides/ because
of the structure of the upper molars and the characteristically deep
zygomatic arch. It is distinguished from /Bienotheroides zigongensis/ from
the Middle Jurassic of the Junggar Basin particularly by characters of the
forelimb, including a humerus that shows little torsion of the proximal and
distal ends. /Bienotheroides ultimus/ is the last of the Chinese
tritylodontids known so far, and apart from /Xenocretosuchus/ from the Lower
Cretaceous of Russia and an unnamed form from the Lower Cretaceous of Japan,
it is the last non-mammalian therapsid known in the entire fossil record."

The term is actual.
Cheers
Trevor

Mesozoic Eucynodonts - an internet directory
http://home.arcor.de/ktdykes/meseucaz.htm
The Mesozoic - more than just the dinosaur.