L'origine et l'évolution des oiseaux, with a twist

[David Peters <davidpeters@att.net>]

Everytime you see 'bird' substitute 'pterosaur.'
'Dinosaur / theropod' = 'fenestrasaur.'
'Feathered' = 'hairy'
'dromaeosaurs and troodontids' = 'longisquamids and sharovipterygids'
'Late Jurassic' = 'Mid to Late Triassic'
'over 140' = 'over 200'
'Archaeopteryx' = 'Eudimorphodon'

not sure about brooding and growth...


Ironic on so many levels.


Padian, K., and de Ricqles, A. 2009. L'origine et l'évolution des  
oiseaux :
35 années de progrès. Comptes Rendus Palevol. doi:
10.1016/j.crpv.2008.11.007.

ABSTRACT: Birds are dinosaurs -- specifically, small feathered and  
flighted
theropod dinosaurs that probably originated in Laurasia during the Late
Jurassic over 140 million years ago. They are most closely related to  
other
small theropods such as dromaeosaurs and troodontids, terrestrial  
predators
that were fleet-footed hunters. The origin of birds is a classic  
example of
two kinds of macroevolution: the phylogenetic origin of the group,  
and the
sequential assembly of adaptations such as flight that are indelibly
associated with birds. These adaptations were not assembled all at once.
Rather, a great many characteristics associated with birds and flight  
first
appeared in non-avian dinosaurs, where they were used for many purposes
other than flight. These included insulation, brooding, and probably  
display
and species recognition. Birds diversified steadily but gradually after
their origin, which is identified with the origin of flight  
(Archaeopteryx);
forelimb and other flight-associated features evolved more rapidly than
features associated with the posterior skeleton. The first birds grew  
more
slowly than extant birds do, and more like other small Mesozoic  
dinosaurs;
like them, they probably matured sexually well before they completed  
their
active skeletal growth. The origin of flight is not a problem of ?trees
down? or ?ground up,? but rather an examination of the order in which
diagnostic flight characters evolved, and what each stage can reveal  
about
the functions and habits of bird outgroups at those evolutionary  
junctures.

David Peters
davidpeters@att.net