Re: Jurassic bird

[Thomas_R_HOLTZ@umail.umd.edu (th81)]

>A comment by Marx (Science, 199: 284) in 1978 mentions the possible finding
>part of of a possible bird humerus from Upper Jurassic the the Dry Mesa
>area, found by Jensen and looked at by Ostrom.  Does anyone know what
>happened to this bone? Was it from a bird, Was it from a pterosaur? Or is
>it still indeterminate. There was, apparently, no follow-up to this report
>in the literature.

The specimen was redescribed by Jensen & Padian in the Journal of
Paleontology in the late 1980s.  I don't have the ref on me (still don't
have email in the office).  The humerus could not be distinguished from
either Archaeopteryx-like birds or dromaeosaurid dinosaurs.

Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
Vertebrate Paleontologist
Dept. of Geology
University of Maryland
College Park, MD  20742
Email:Thomas_R_HOLTZ@umail.umd.edu (th81)
Fax: 301-314-9661
Phone:301-405-4084