Re: Information on Pelecanimimus

[Dinogeorge@aol.com]

In a message dated 97-06-13 06:17:54 EDT, nino@uam.es writes:

<< >I advocate the notion of pre-feathers as an archosaurian trait and a very
 >specific characteristic of the Dinosauria, wher it was taken to the extreme
 >of specialization in birds and proto-birds.
 
 It is also possible, but there is no evidences on this hypothesis. The same
 with the one from George. >>

True feathers are known only in birds at and above the level of
_Archaeopteryx_. So there >is< evidence for this hypothesis. For evidence
concerning feathers on dino-birds, see my other post.

Would you assert that the birds _Ichthyornis_ and _Hesperornis_ had no
feathers, simply because none have ever been found with any of their
specimens?

Would you assert that feathers appeared "overnight" in their present form,
with no precursors or pre-feather integumentary structures, simply because no
such structures have yet been found in the fossil record?

Would you assert that birds themselves first appeared in the Late Jurassic,
simply because this happens to be the date of the earliest known fossil
feathered bird?

Sometimes--often--it is necessary to look beyond the known fossil record to
frame meaningful hypotheses.