Re: DINOSAUR ARGUMENT: THE RESOLVE

[jshields@iol.ie (James Shields)]

>But.....

>According to Phil Currie, there's some new research suggesting that pterosaurs
>are actually derived theropods. Gasp! Shock! Horror! I've asked him for the
>ref., but he hasn't got back yet. If the proposal is at all believable, well...
>it would change everything. 

As far as I understand, if an early dinosaur was found which could be shown
to be an ancestor of an early pterosaur, then pterosaurs would be dinosaurs.

But, I think this is unlikely. My reasoning behind this is that dinosaurs
(unless I am mistaken, by definition) have an upright porsure. Pterosaurs
have only a semi-upright posture.

This suggests that the only way for a dinosaur to be an ancestor of a
pterosaur would be:
1. An archiosaur is found and declared to be a dinosaur despite its
semi-spralling gait.
Or:
2. Pterosaurs reverted back to a semi-upright stance (something which I
think unlikely since walking upright would give them a clear advantage
during take-off).

Hope I haven't confused things any further... :-)

James

James Shields  -  jshields@iol.ie  -  http://www.iol.ie/~jshields
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And when the ark was finished Noah said unto Elvis, "What do you reckin?"
And Elvis checked out his own cabin and shook his head saying "poky".
And so did they knock several walls through and install a jaccuzzi.
And when it was all done Noah scratched his beard and said, "We don't have
room for all the animals now."
And Elvis perused the livestock list and in his wisdom said, "Lose the
dinosaurs."
        -Robert Rankin, The Suburban Book of the Dead