Re: new paper on dino evolution

["Thomas R. Holtz, Jr." <th81@umail.umd.edu>]

At 02:44 PM 6/27/97 -0400, Nick Pharris wrote:

>> A new theropod clade name, Paraves, for Deinonychosauria + Aves.
>
>Wow; deja vu attack!  I doubt any of you remember, but I proposed exactly
>this name online a couple years ago (for a clade about equivalent to
>Arctometatarsalia).  I don't know that Paraves ("beside birds") really
>applies very well to a taxon including the birds!

I have similar feelings on the appropriateness of the name, but such is
taxonomy.

>Does Sereno really still believe in the Deinonychosauria?  Or has he removed
>Troodontidae from this taxon?

Sereno is the last active theropod phylogeneticist I know of who still
considers the original concept of Deinonychosauria (=Troodontidae +
Dromaeosauridae) valid.  (Not that I am against Deinonychosauria being used
for some other taxon, but the data in my analyses do not support a closer
relation for troodontids and dromaeosaurids to the exclusion of
ornithomimids and birds, respectively).

Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
Vertebrate Paleontologist     Webpage: http://www.geol.umd.edu
Dept. of Geology              Email:th81@umail.umd.edu
University of Maryland        Phone:301-405-4084
College Park, MD  20742       Fax:  301-314-9661