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Re: weird jurassic dinobird with very weird feathers
Regarding peer-review, apparently we are supposed to log in and comment...
I'll try ASAP.
The tail feathers look as if they had always been ribbon-shaped, i. e.,
flat. The things of *Longisquama* are lens-shaped in cross-section; they are
really thick.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael Mortimer" <mickey_mortimer111@msn.com>
Sent: Tuesday, September 30, 2008 9:58 AM
The tail is quite a surprise- apparently scansoriopterygids were like
enantiornithines in shortening their tails as they grew up.
Though... most of the tail of *Epidendrosaurus* is only preserved as an
imprint, and most of that might result from something else, like postmortem
movement of the carcass by a current. Alternatively, some have suggested on
this list that the lower jaw of *Epidendrosaurus* belongs to a squamate;
maybe the tail imprint does also -- after all, the tail as a whole is
completely disarticulated from the rest of the body and perpendicular to it.
(However, say Zhang et al. (2002), "[n]ear the distal end of the tail,
integumentary imprints are faintly preserved, resembling those of
*Microraptor* (Xu et al. 2000).")