A Few Things

["Jaime Headden" <jaemei@hotmail.com>]

<from> DINOFEST REPORT #2 (AND FINAL)

I wrote:

<<These other forms vary with a consistency that is grouped separately 
from others, such as the elmisaur, enantiornithine, and alvarezsaur 
tarsometatarsi. *Deinonychus* shows a "crunch" with mt III even, 
pressed in slightly by II and IV, similar to the enantiornithine 
condition, but only just barely.>>

Matt Troutmann wrote:

<Hold up. The enantiornithine tarsometatarsus shows no such "crunch", 
just a proximal fusion.>

  I stand corrected. I even remarked before on the non-arctomet/pinched 
condition of the enantiornithine tmt.

-------------------

A LITTLE TAIL

  Dromaeosaurs, it seems, may not have been the great runners they have 
been made to be in the past, it's been said (not saying it's true). The 
long tail is quite stiff, and seems to have had one major purpose: to 
stick out.

  To diverge for a moment, Archie's tail was even more, seemingly, 
stiffened, and was adorned with long feathers that, as Greg Paul has 
illustrated, may have had a major use in display. As a flier, of course, 
this would have helped it as a rudder. (I'm not suggesting dromaeosaurs 
could fly.)

  Now, Dave (sp?) said that the roadrunner uses the long tail [feathers] 
to brake with, or maneuver, as a primarily flighted bird does, yet 
*Geococcyx* does this on the ground. Now, if dromaeosaurs were 
feathered, and I certainly illustrate them this way, along with many of 
you paleoartists out there. Tails seemingly stiff for no reason except 
to create a sort of intertia-reducing rod when "whipped" about, thus 
serving as a brake, would have been enhanced with large feathers. 
_Pavonis_ anyone?

Jaime A. Headden

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