RE: Troodontid tail feathers?

[Dino Guy Ralph <dinoguy@sbcglobal.net>]

See a photo of _Jinfengopteryx elegans_, a Chinese troodontid with true
pennaceous feathers, at http://dinonews.net/rubriq/actus.php?date=02_04_2005
and http://dinonews.net/images/dinos/jinfengopteryx.jpg.  _Jinfengopteryx_
was originally described as a fossil bird, but it is now considered to be a
troodontid.  See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jinfengopteryx and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feathered_dinosaurs.

No doubt you have seen Jason Brougham's _Mei long_ sculpture from the
traveling exhibition, "Ancient Fossils; New Discoveries" (at
http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/dinosaurs/gallery/diorama.php?image=8&p=fore
st&a=sino) and Mick Ellison's illustration (at
http://discovermagazine.com/2005/jan/meet-mei-long).  Based on the nature of
the feathers preserved on the related _Jinfengopteryx_ (yet undiscovered or
undescribed when these were produced), one might regard these _Mei long_
restorations as perhaps overly conservative in their portrayal of troodontid
tail feathers.  Pennaceous tail feathers for troodontids?  The fossils say:
"Yes!"  
 
I hope this helps.

On a related note, we haven't seen feathered ornithomimids, yet, have we?
I've had them on my wish list for some time now. 

Dino Guy Ralph
Docent at the California Academy of Sciences
Dinosaur and Fossil Education
Member of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology