Re: four winged Archaeopteryx

[David Marjanovic <david.marjanovic@gmx.at>]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ottawa Paleontological Society" <paleo@ncf.ca>
Sent: Sunday, September 24, 2006 9:42 PM

> It is too bad that the fossil record is so fragmentary as it would be
> fascinating if tailess forms appeared during a radiation into a new set of
> niches and co-existed with the long tailed forms for a fair period of time
> (especially if secondary characteristics changed at the same time).

The former may be difficult to test, but the latter is the case in bats 
(extant *Rhinopoma*), pterosaurs (*Herbstosaurus*, Middle Jurassic, supposed 
to have a short tail; *Pterorhynchus*, Early Cretaceous, long tail), and of 
course theropods themselves (*Noguerornis*, Berriasian [beginning of Early 
Cretaceous], short tail; *Rahonavis*, Maastrichtian [end of Late Cretaceous 
= almost 80 Ma later!], long tail).

> By the way, what do people think of the idea that birds outcompeted
> terrestrial forms for the smallest predatory niches in the late 
> Cretaceous?

The mammals don't seem to have noticed...