RE: On Conchoraptor?

[Michael Mortimer <mickey_mortimer111@msn.com>]

Jaime A. Headden wrote-

>   The abstract really tells much of the story. In comparing the edocasts
> between Concho, Archie, and an ostrich, Kundrát finds that the oviraptorid
> brain is much more like that of the ostrich than is Archie's, implying it
> derived from volant ancestors.

In all fairness, Kundrat finds most of the characters in the oviraptorid 
braincase are less birdlike than Archaeopteryx, with a few being more 
birdlike.  The only aspect Kundrat believes could be due to 
neoflightlessness is the position of the optic lobes.  His reasoning here is 
highly flawed though-

"The fact that Struthio, a recent secondarily flightless bird, has the same 
cerebral superimposition of the optic lobes (CSOL) pattern as Enaliornis, a 
Cretaceous flying bird, evokes the hypothesis that similar CSOL pattern of 
Archaeopteryx, a flying Jurassic bird, should be expressed by Conchoraptor 
if it would be a secondarily flightless bird as proposed by Elzanowski 
(1999) and Maryañska et al. (2002). In fact, the CSOL of Archaeopteryx is 
fairly similar to that of Conchoraptor. This would suggest that Conchoraptor 
might have evolved from an ancestor with flying capabilities."

First, the sample size used here is pitifully small (wouldn't a comparison 
between Struthio and a tinamu be far better?).  Second, Enaliornis is not 
known to be volant.  No forelimb or pectoral material is known, and it's the 
most basal known member of a neoflightless clade (Hesperornithes).  Third, 
Archaeopteryx itself may not have been volant.
Incidentally, the tinamu Crypturellus does have optic lobes ventral to the 
posterior part of the cerebral hemispheres as in Struthio (Franzosa, 2004).  
So do Anas, Chauna, the basal undescribed troodontid IGM 100/1005, 
Saurornithoides junior, pterosaurs and.... Allosaurus?!  So unless 
Olshevsky's right.... ;)

I agree with Jaime's comments regarding phylogeny, the taxonomic identity of 
ZPAL MgD-I/95, the questionable EQ, etc..

Mickey Mortimer