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RE: Leaping launching pterosaurs query





On Sat, 3 Apr 2010, Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. wrote:

Anthony Docimo wrote:
Date: Sat, 3 Apr 2010 11:51:00 -0500
From: davidpeters@att.net
To: habib@jhmi.edu; dinosaur@usc.edu
Subject: Leaping launching pterosaurs query

Hypothetically,
was wondering if we amputated the wing fingers, would we get a pterosaur
able to flee or attack by bounds using principally the forelimb launch
technique?

 that's either a large mouthful of chocolate wing, or one of Gould's
"hopeful monsters".

Richard Goldschmidt, not Gould. Many people confuse Goldschmidt's concept
of "hopeful monsters" (instantaneous evolution from bizarre offspring)

AIR Aaron Filler proposes something like that in regards to bipedality
and morotopithecus. I don't know if that qualifies as bizarre, tho.

with punctuated equilibrium (in which the evolutionary change in a lineage
is restricted to punctuation events which are <10% the total species
duration, but are still take thousands or more years).