Re: pterosauria arm folding

[NJPharris@aol.com]

In a message dated 97-06-20 20:37:42 EDT, jrhutch@socrates.berkeley.edu (John
R. Hutchinson) writes:

> >Padian's running _Dimorphodon_ looks elegant and quite plausible; his
>  >penguin-waddling _Anhanguera_ looks ridiculous.
>  >
>  >Nick P.
>  
>  I'm sorry, but I must protest this comment. 

...

>  Dismissing their interpretations as "ridiculous," IMHO, lacks that simple
>  respect. I'm not saying that you must agree with them, but at least a
>  polite nod to their experience is common courtesy.

Ouch!  I'm sorry, John.  Apologize to Dr. Padian for me, too!  Actually, I
enjoy reading about Padian's work very much and usually find myself siding
with him on most disputes about pterosaurs (not that I have much
justification for siding with anyone, being a lowly undergrad at a very
non-paleo-oriented school and getting all my info out of mags and books!).
 "Ridiculous" was too strong a word; I did not mean to "dismiss" this
interpretation at all.  I still think it looks rather odd, however.

I will admit that "gestalt" conceptions of biomechanical plausibility are not
the most rigorous kind of science, but they are at least a start.  I can
tell, for instance, that _Anhanguera_ was not a full-time swimmer or
borrower, that it did not walk on its hands alone, and that it did not run
along on two feet with its back held horizontally like a theropod or
(perhaps) a "rhamphorhynchoid".  Will you dismiss these conclusions, based as
they are on a general overview of the animal's skeletal structure?

NP