Cosesaurus and Compsognathus

["Tim Williams" <T.Williams@cclru.randwick.unsw.edu.au>]

George Olshevsky wrote: 
 
> And the less advanced dino-birds (including, I believe,
> _Megalancosaurus_ and its relatives, and perhaps _Cosesaurus_),
> having diverged from the central lineage, would not be
> dinosaurs. Some of those would be non-dinosaurian ornithodirans, for
> example.

_Cosesaurus aviceps_ is a prolacertid - probably a juvenile 
_Macrocnemus_.  As such it's no more related to the dinosaurs than 
"super-necked" _Tanystropheus_.

> Feather impressions are seen on most if not all of the seven (or is
> it eight now?) skeletal specimens of _Archaeopteryx_, and the first
> specimen found is >nothing but< a feather.

I vaguely recall reading somewhere that the original slab bearing the 
first _Compsognathus_ specimen may have been "polished" in the 
process of preparing the skeleton for public view.  At the time, no 
one expected _Compsognathus_ to be feathered, so no one would have 
bothered looking for them.  Any feather impressions may have been 
inadvertently rubbed off.  

I must confess that I don't actually believe a word of this.

Tim Williams