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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).")