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There was a front page article in the Los Angeles Times this
morning about Protoarchaeopteryx and Caudipteryx . Fantastic stuff!
I found it interesting there was not one single quote in the piece
from any of the anti-birds=dinosaurs crowd (Ruben, Feduccia, Martin,
etc.) Maybe at last, they have nothing to say! It's difficult now to imagine
how someone could reasonably argue that birds are not theropod descendants.
I agree with Greg Paul that Protoarchaeopteryx and Caudipteryx may well
have been secondarily flightless; they are both clearly terrestrial
critters, but the long
arm and tail feathers are consistent with flying ancestors. If not,
however, this suggests long arm and tail feathers may have evolved for
reasons unrelated to flight (display, egg guarding or something else),
and were later exapted for this purpose.
I also agree with Greg the bristle-like protofeathers on the body were
most
likely for insulation in a high-metabolic rate animal. Ectotherms have no
need for such structures, and in fact, insulation on an ectotherm would be
counterproductive. If Protoarchaopteryx and Caudipteryx were
secondarily flightless, this also suggests their aerobic power was
within the range of modern birds and mammals, since high aerobic power
appears to be needed in order to fly. Witness, for example, the fact
that the capacity for high aerobic power production has evolved
independently three times (insects, bats and birds), and that no
extant species lacking this capacity is volant.
------------------
Guy Leahy
95 Aerospace Medicine Squadron/SGPZ
208 W. Popson Ave., Building 2204
Edwards AFB, CA 93523
(805) 277-8392
Leahyg%AMDS.edw@mhs.elan.af.mil
Original text: (54 lines follow)
>From mrowe@hippo.cisab.indiana.edu ("Mickey P. Rowe"), on 6/24/98 12:53 PM:
To: Leahyg@amds.EDW
Listproc just rejected your message (enclosed below) to the dinosaur
mailing list because it did not recognize you as a subscriber. I just
told listproc that your air force address should be recognized as
belonging to your WWU address. I've also taken the liberty of
extracting Greg's message from yours (since you don't directly address
his message, I -- and several others on the list -- would have
considered it a waste of bandwidth for you to include it). In any
case, if you want to see your message distributed to the list, please
send it again to dinosaur@usc.edu
Thanks and sorry for the inconvenience,
M
------- Start of forwarded message -------
Subject: re: WHAT I SAW TODAY AT NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
There was a front page article in the Los Angeles Times this
morning about Protoarchaeopteryx and Caudipteryx . Fantastic stuff!
I found it interesting there was not one single quote in the piece
from any of the anti-birds=dinosaurs crowd (Ruben, Feduccia, Martin,
etc.) Maybe at last, they have nothing to say! I agree that
Protoarchaeopteryx and Caudipteryx may well have been secondarily
flightless; they are both clearly terrestrial critters, but the long
arm and tail feathers are consistent with flying ancestors. If not,
however, this suggests long arm and tail feathers may have evolved for
reasons unrelated to flight (display, egg guarding or something else),
and were later exapted for this purpose. I also agree the
bristle-like protofeathers on the body were most likely for insulation
in a high-metabolic rate animal. Ectotherms have no need for such
structures, and in fact, insulation on an ectotherm would be
counterproductive. If Protoarchaopteryx and Caudipteryx were
secondarily flightless, this also suggests their aerobic power was
within the range of modern birds and mammals, since high aerobic power
appears to be needed in order to fly. Witness, for example, the fact
that the capacity for high aerobic power production has evolved
independently three times (insects, bats and birds), and that no
extant species lacking this capacity is volant.
------------------
Guy Leahy
95 Aerospace Medicine Squadron/SGPZ
208 W. Popson Ave., Building 2204
Edwards AFB, CA 93523
(805) 277-8392
Leahyg%AMDS.edw@mhs.elan.af.mil
------- End of forwarded message -------
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