RE: pteros have lift-off

[David Peters <davidpeters@att.net>]

I think you misread me, Jaime. I think I asked a question, rather than making a 
statement.

And you might want to reread the Langer and student abstract in the 2008 JVP 
abstracts. That will bring the total to 2.

The 'majority', as you say, and as you know, excluded other potential 
candidates,  nesting of dinos and pteros could have been by default. Include 
other taxa and see what happens. If it's science, it's worth testing.

DP


> 
> 
> 
>   Between pterosaurs and ANYTHING. If you stick
> *Scleromochlus* between pterosaurs and anything, you get a
> large morphological gap, having to derive a forelimb anatomy
> from such an underived state. If you stick "any
> diapsid" between pterosaurs and anything else, you must
> STILL go through this transformational state, simply because
> the basal condition among most diapsid groups is long legs,
> short arms, short neck, etc. Yes, there are exceptions, but
> these must overcome the same hurdle the origin of bats does,
> and even with genetics, that's unresolved with regards
> to examining the morphological transition, and you wish to
> do this ONLY with morphology. The majority of studies
> associate pterosaurs within an Ornithodira clade,
> associating them with dinosaurs, between them and crocs; the
> minority suggests other places, but this minority among
> workers is very, very small (one person, essentially) and
> one published study in the current working models. Now, some
> miracle specimen may come along that challenges all of this,
> but it has to come along first.
> 
> Cheers,
> 
>   Jaime A. Headden
> 
> "Innocent, unbiased observation is a myth." ---
> P.B. Medawar (1969)
> 
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