Re: Protoavis?

[Jeffrey Martz <martz@holly.ColoState.EDU>]

> >     However, the reason that most paleontologists haven't accepted
> >_Protoavis_ as the ancestor of birds is two-fold; the speicmen is
> >fragmentary,
>         No more or less so than _Unenlagia_, IMHO...

      But quite a bit more then _Archaeopteryx_, _Deinonychus_, 
_Velociraptor_, _Troodon_...  

>         O.K.: TIME OUT. I have not read the origional _Protoavis_ article
> completely (no time), but I know for a fact that Chatterjee currently
> believes that _Protoavis_ *is* a theropod. Period.

     But does Currie?  I can't remember from his paper, but I know that he
at least doesn't consider it as close to birds as troodontids,
dromeosaurs, and _Archaeopteryx_.  I need to check the brain case paper
for a quote...

LN Jeff
O-