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BANDS > PADS vs. PALS



While others are scoffing at Ruben (and for good reason), there's another very 
large group of "believers"  that claims Pterosaurs Are Dinosaur Sisters (PADS) 
when no series of taxa anywhere within the Archosauromorpha shows any 
indication of a gradual increase in pterosaurian characters. 

In fact, as Bennett 1996 showed (and Hone and Benton 2008 confirmed) when you 
remove hind limb characters pterosaurs bounce out of a sister taxon 
relationship with Scleromochlus and plummet down to erythrosuchians and 
proterosuchians. In a cladogram that otherwise can safely nest skull-only and 
skull-less taxa, this is a big red flag indicating gamut problems. 

PALS (Pterosaurs are Lizard Sisters) is where you'll find the series of taxa 
documenting a gradual increase in pterosaurian characters. You can remove hind 
limb characters safely without shifting tree topology.

David Peters