Patagia

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

>I am not sure what you mean by this.  Obviously as living birds possess a
>propatagium and metapatagium these structures must have appeared at some
>point in avian evolution.

Okay, I'm on track now.  When George & I heard "patagium" at first, we
automatically thought you were talking about the huge structure between the
posterior surface of the forelimb and the torso (brachipatagium?  I can't
remember the proper terminology).

Obviously structures such as the propatagium are present in modern birds,
but some paleornithologists have insisted that a [brachipatagium, or
whatever the proper term is] was present in ancestral birds, something the
fossils refute.

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