Longisquama & bird-->dinosaur

[Aravind <allosaur@tamu.edu>]

It is very likely that Longisquama is an archosaur but whether it is a
dinosaur is definitely questionable. Is the bone which has interpreted
as a furcula really a furcula?? It may not be one but a rib fragment.
However if it is indeed the furcula then the exciting possibility of
early arboreal dinosaurs does arise. This is in some ways reminiscent of
the Henkelotherium and the arboreal adaptations of early mammals. If
indeed there were arboreal forms of dinosaurs or this was their
primitive life mode it would demand rethinking of many of their
adaptations. The bird to dino hypothesis however remains relatively
unaffected for it would pertain only to the derivation of the
maniraptorans. But Archaeornithoides would be suggestive of a bird
ancestor of other dinosaur lines like the spinosaurs. (if Irritator is a
spinosaur then this may look worth exploring. How do the bird to
dinosaur theorists on the list place the birds with respect to the other
dinosaurs.


Aravind
Home page: http://http.tamu.edu:/~ali1020/